Back in Riverton... and OK with it

 So here's the background for those of you who don't know.  I graduated from high school in 2002, and I left for college that summer.  My experience growing up in this area was... painful.  I wasn't popular, I never felt like I belonged, and all I wanted was to see WY in my rear-view mirror.  I also wanted to get away from "oh you are _____'s __(insert relationship here)___."  I came back for a year after college and felt like I had to get back out ASAP because I had to prove I could make it outside of Fremont county... and the wounds from high school were still fresh, let's be honest.  Four years of being away wasn't NEARLY enough to get over all the crap I'd experienced.  Outside of a few short visits, I haven't been back for any extended period of time... until now.  Technically it's been 19 years, but I'm rounding up to 20.  The thing about it is, I'm actually feeling really good about being back after 20 years.

Levi... the playful.  He is the source of the lovely kitty hairs that have taken over all my clothes.  He also likes to play with my closet doors, attack my feet from under the bed, and takes quite an interest in any food I'm preparing or eating.  

I think that enough time has passed that I no longer carry certain grudges.  I'm not the same person I was 20 years ago, so I doubt many of the people who made my life hell are the same people they were, either.  I don't feel the need to reconnect with many people, simply because our lives have taken such different directions that we really don't have much in common anymore.  Does that make me a bitch?  I don't know, and frankly I don't care.  I've reached out to some people and I'm looking forward to spending time with them.  The thing that hit me last night is that my best friend and the person I want to spend the most time with here is my mom.  We got all dressed up and went out to the Depot the other night.  We were massively overdressed but neither of us really cared.  We are adopting a 'let them stare' policy.  Then when I got home from work last night, it was so nice to catch up with her and talk about our days.  I am really content spending time with Mom and so far I love my job, so I'm feeling all warm and fuzzy about being back.  Which is weird, but a good weird, you know?  I'm still not a huge fan of the "are you ____'s ___(IRH)___?" but I also know that's the way of small towns.  When I was in Glen Rose an old timer in a bar wanted to know my last name and I figured out it was because he wanted to see what ties I had to the town.  I assured him that I had no ties to the town, which seemed to unsettle him.  Small towns, gotta love 'em.

My dinner at the Depot - green chili smothered shredded beef burrito.  So good!!  

I really didn't expect to get a job so quick, either.  But I gotta say, it seems like the ladies I'm working with are all really cool.  The other day when we were unpacking the liquor order a couple said "yeah, I was asked not to return to my last job, due to my personality" which just made me laugh.  There's no pretense with these women, and I love that.  After years of navigating duplicity the sheer honesty of "I can come across as an asshole, but I don't MEAN to!" is refreshing.  We are a helluva mix of personalities and backgrounds, but if the liquor order was any indication, we're also all hard workers.  There's no real hierarchy - the owners are working alongside the cashiers and there's no "treat me different" vibes from anyone.  No one has a chip on their shoulder or thinks they are better than anyone else... it's an actual team vibe, which I've only experienced sometimes in other jobs.  It's way more physical than anything else I've done (besides working with Dad), so my arms, thighs, and butt should be looking GOOD in a few months.  It's also not very far from Mom's, so no worries on the commute.  I'm prepared to say that I honestly love my job.  The shifts are going to be long - open to close on the days I work - but the days off also make up for that.  I'll be working every other weekend, which means that I have 4-day weekends every 2 weeks.  My boss said that they wanted to make sure that we have time to live our lives outside of work, and I love that attitude.  I love their attitude about a lot of things, to be honest.  

New product - small bottles of George Clooney's tequila... which I hear is good.  I also want to try about 4-5 different beers, get the ones that I know I like, keep myself stocked on Slow N Low and Deep Eddy vodka, try some of the sloshies that they sell (not too many - heavy on the sugar), and start being a person who gets growlers of beer.  

So that's where I am right now.  I'm happy to be back in Riverton as an adult.  From what I've seen on Facebook, they have some fun stuff going on around here.  I'm happy to be able to spend some real quality time with Mom and Rex, and to be closer to Dad and Carole.  I really missed my people when I was gone, so I intend to enjoy my time with them now.  I'm still going to take the FSOT and try to get the job with the State Dept, don't worry.  It's just... Riverton is comfortable to me.  There's a lot of things they don't have - chain causal dining places comes to mind - but they have local equivalents.  It's a weird mix of familiar, and yet still not feeling like I "fit."  Which is fair, I never "fit" here... the thing is, this time I'm ok with that.  I love the life that I lead and I don't need to answer to anyone, and that's a great place to be.  

Much love to you, dear reader, and I hope you are as content with your world as I am with mine.  MUAH!  :* 

WY to WA and back

 I know it's been a while since my last post, but give me a break because I was in WA and my sis doesn't have internet at her house.  They are never there, so they just use the data on their phones.  So I wasn't able to update you to our shenanigans.  Without further ado: the highlights.

The Tetons were very pretty on the way to WA.

Yes, the pic was taken while driving, but it's REALLY slow driving thru there, so it was all good.

The weather continued fantastic and this was in OR.

So green.

I really, really missed these kinds of things - just me and my music and my thoughts going down the road.

When I got to my sister's house (after 16 hours of driving) her dog was the only one home to greet me.  She was happy to see me though, so that was ok.  My sis and bro in law were at their neighbors house, so it's not like they were far, but it was fun to tease them.

The next day they were hard at work clearing out trees from their property.

I supervised.

Puppy tried to find comfy places in the shade.

I love their house.

And the view.

And the company!  Hehe.

The couple that works together stays together, right??

Again, supervising.  I also took this opportunity to check out more of the features on my car, putting the seats down is so easy!!  

Time to chip the trees they cut down.

In the evening we watched movies on THIS!  Gotta love projectors and screens.

We also made good drinks - this is a Christmas in July.  Hendricks gin, lemonade, strawberries, and cucumbers over ice.  Sounds weird, tastes amazing.

My sister loves me, she made me THE CAKE!  Not the original from the Stewarts, but still good.

On a cold, rainy day we also made a fire and made s'mores.

Fires and pajamas and s'mores for ALL!

So fun and so good.

This is a "where is mine" face. Silly pup wants ALL the foods.

Then we had  to get rice krispies to finish off the marshmallows, as you do... then we had to get more marshmallows to finish off the rice krispies.  We ended up with 3 batches of rice krispies... one had peanut butter in it, too!

Someone wanted her hair dyed and as a typical oldest she TOLD me I was doing this as opposed to ASKING me to do it.  Sigh... she had me trained when we were growing up: when she knocked on our adjoining wall, I was to come and see what she wanted.  She said she was contemplating stomping on her floor to see if it still worked.  "Sister's minion" is truly my longest job... and unpaid even!

Puppy likes to lick people's hands... it's weird... she also was licking the couch at one point.  Entertaining little girl.

My only revenge - getting pix like this and posting them.  Actually I like this one because her hubby had just made her laugh, so it was a genuine smile... not a "you're taking ANOTHER pic" smile.

I am honored to have the puppy butt next to my head... NOT!

Then we also made tamales one day... it was an assembly line system - there in the back you can see the corn husks and the bowl of masa, then Mo filled them with the chicken, cheese, and peppers, and I tied them.

Step 1.

Step 2.

I couldn't exactly take a pic of me tying them, so here's the result.  TAMALES!

The margarita to go with the tamales.  That night we had their neighbors over to their house and we played Cards Against Humanity, which is always fun.  I was heading back to WY the next day.

On the way, I found the elk herd I'd heard so much about.  This was about an hour or so into my trip.

The trip back was uneventful, and I got to see the elk herd that is also near the Tetons.  Thankfully no animals decided to play chicken with my car, or try to end their lives by car, so everyone came thru unscathed.  I was home at about 11 on Sunday night.  Monday morning at 10 am I had an interview at a liquor store down the road.  When I got home from that, I cleaned, arranged, and otherwise made Mom's guest room into something that looked less like a crazy person had just moved in.  I also did my laundry (O.M.G. using a dryer to dry my socks instead of putting them out individually to dry was AMAZING).  In the early afternoon I got a call from the liquor store and they offered me a job as one of their managers.  As you can imagine, I said sure and so I start tomorrow.

So it's been great being home, I got my 'life change' or 'between jobs' road trip.  If you want to know the numbers, it was 2 months (technically 7 weeks, but I'm rounding up), 8 states, 5000 miles, and plenty of wonderful memories made with friends and family that I missed SO much!  I'm officially back in Riverton for the time being, I have a decent job, I have a few things that I still need to do, but I'm feeling good about all of it at the moment.  The next chapter should be fun.  I'm actually really looking forward to seeing my home as an adult.  :)  Much love!!

WY before WA

 I rolled into Riverton at about 9pm on Sunday night.  My plan was to get my to-do list done before I headed to WA on Saturday to see my older sister and bro-in-law.  What was my to-do list, you ask?  Well: 1) change title on stink bug and register it in WY, 2) sign up for Covid vaccination (got the 1st shot), 3) do my 2020 taxes, 4) get phone plan/new #, and 5) go thru clothes and see what I have anymore.  I accomplished 3 of these 5 things - I'm waiting on paperwork for the stink bug and it's too damn cold to be in the garage going thru stuff.  I learned that my Korean phone won't work on the American network, so I had to get a new one and dadgumit... I like the fool thing.  It's way easier to manage than my last one.  I did get another Samsung and I appreciated how everything was easily transferred over.  

This was part of the view in KS - I'm not sure what was making the cloud/smoke look like that, but it was pretty cool.

Now that's a lot of smoke.  Hope everything was OK there as well.  It was beautiful and warm all the way through OK and KS, though it was quite windy the whole time.  Then I got to WY.

Those of you who are familiar with this state will know that the side of the hill/mountain that gets the sun will lose it's snow first.  You'll also know that snow sticks around well into May.  Well... it also comes back.

I just really liked this pic.

Getting home, I finally was able to see all the packages that I'd had sent to Mom's house.  I may have had a bit of a sickness... an ordering online sickness.  The box is my cats that E sent from Korea - he put them in a vacuum bag, so that's why they fit.  Hehe.

My stuff.  Lots of music, T-shirts, jewelry, and you can see Ford's squished face up at the top.

This is Levi.  He was my helper when I was opening all the packages and then he seemed REALLY protective of Atreyu.  He's super sweet and the first of my mom's cats to think that I was ok.  In fact, he loved me right away.  

Remember how I said the snow comes back?  Well on Monday this was my view on the way to Lander to try to register the car.  

I usually love coming down this road in the summer - it's beautiful... that day it was just snowy.  Good news is that the roads weren't bad and I never needed to turn on the Stink Bug's 4-wheel drive. 

This is Lucy, she was the 2nd of Mom's cats to warm up to me.  Trampus has also now decided that I'm ok.  The only hold out is Chevy, who seems to think that all I'm good for is opening the door for him when he wants to go out.  I'm gonna put "cat concierge" on my resume.

  

At first, it was just a light dusting of snow... 

...then it got a little more serious... 

... and now after it hasn't stopped for over 24 hours, it's REALLY snowy.  The funny thing is that it's not bitterly cold out.  The roads are ok but slushy.  I did have to use the rake outside to clear enough snow off my car to not be a hazard when I went to the store.  This is wet, heavy, soak-into-the-ground snow, which to be honest is really needed around here as the snowpack on the mountains is usually all the moisture we can get during the summer.  

Speaking of going to the store, I have a problem... every time I go, I come back with more snack-type foods.  Peanut butter filled pretzels, apples, sour cream and onion toasted ritz chips, vegetable chips, and recently Cheez-it's snap'd.  SO I'd say that I really missed having familiar snacks around.  I had to stop myself over and over today from getting more snack foods since I'm heading to WA soon.  The last thing I need to do is overwhelm Mom with my snacks!  Hehe... I also need to do take an inventory of what she already has because we don't need 2 of everything, either.  Anyway, it's been nice being back and being able to chat with people at the grocery store and such.  I always have to laugh when they ask where I came from because it's always the same - originally here, but I've been around a lot.  Speaking of such things, I was telling Mom about a conversation that Todd and I had had about things that would make us happy and one of them was "where would you be happy buying a house and settling down?"  I eventually laughed and said I'd rather buy an RV so that I could go and bug people without being an inconvenience.  Mom started laughing and said I've always been that way because when I was young we were in a 5th wheel trailer while Dad was working as a boiler maker.  Apparently we came home to the 'big house' and I asked when we were going 'home' - to the 5th wheel.  When we did go back, Mom said I said "Ah, this is home."  Mom thought I was nuts - 5 people in a 5th wheel is a little crowded, apparently.  Just goes to show, once a gypsy always a gypsy.  Oh and apparently a guy at Mom's job thinks I'm a "total babe" which made me laugh.  

Anyway, I'm heading to WA on Friday since most of the snow and nasties should be gone by then.  On my way back I'm either going to swing down thru SLC or swing north thru MT, depending on the weather.  I haven't seen much of MT, so I think that could be fun.  Also, I applied for a job at a liquor store down the street, which could be fun.  Something to do while I study and figure out what's next.  Gotta keep the bank account happy, you know what I'm saying?  Also, having a US W-2 next year is going to be AWESOME.  For those who are wondering - Turbo Tax is the way to go.  The tax forms for me this year look SO much more understandable than last year.  Not that I made enough for the gov to want their cut anyway.  

So that's what has been going on.  I'll be in WA for about a week or so, then I'll be back and seeing about getting that job.  Love to all, hope you are doing well, and stay warm... or cool, whichever is appropriate for you. :D

TX to OK to WY

I got to spend 2 days after Easter with my friends in Glen Rose and their 5 year old daughter.  It was really nice, super fun, and my GOODNESS that child is tall.  I mean, her mom and dad are tall too so it makes sense, but she's the most 7-8 YO looking 5 year old I've ever seen!  She was super sweet too, making us picnics and she gave me some leaves and a flower to keep in my car.  She also showed me her tadpoles and her frog.  It was hilarious and cute as hell.  The 2nd night I was there she also gave me her Care Bear to sleep with.  

One of my favorite drinks - just slow and low over ice.  Good for sippin' and chattin.'

I was trying to get some sun and I succeeded.  I ended up a little pinkish, but it was ok... it's gone now.

The Care Bear - we counted all his hearts... one on each foot, one on each hand, and (que 5 year old giggles) one on his BOTTOM!!

Before I left, I did have lunch with my old boss.  It was really nice to be able to catch up with her, but it really reminded me of how much I really loved that job.  I did good work and it was appreciated.  I think I missed that for the last 2 years.  It was really nice to be able to see people from the area.  As much as I loved my job and didn't mind my apartment, I know that it's a good thing that I left.  Would I go back?  Well, I'll never say never, but it's fairly unlikely I'd say.

After having lunch, I took off north to OK City.  I missed the memo that said "You're family, just walk in" so I made a slight faux pas by knocking and waiting.  The perils of not being able to text at the moment.  Messaging works fine, texting requires a phone number.  However, after a do-over, all was well and Todd and I were once again ready for shenanigans.  We went to lunch at a Mexican place called... wait for it... Ted's.  Now, I don't know who Ted was, but I'd like to meet the man and shake his hand.  The service was excellent, the food was INCREDIBLE, and all in all a good time was had.  

We also consumed tasty beverages and this was my throw-back: Code Red Mountain Dew and Vodka.  The vodka was better quality than we had in college, but I figured college buddy, college-ish drink.  I must say that I drew the line at drinking Bud Light like I did back then.  Craft beers and I are friends.

On that note, this is a VERY good beer.  I've found that anything that is a Belgian style and has anything to do with monks is usually a good beer.  Those Belgian monks know their brews, that's all I can say to that.  We went to a liquor store - this was the first time I'd been since I got back.  Some of it was thinking "ah, fond if fuzzy memories of these spirits."  There was also the obligatory "vampire hiss" at some of those liquors that have been sworn off for various reasons.  You understand, I'm sure.

We also decided to hit a diner the next day, though we were trying for a salad place.  I had the mushroom, swiss, and bacon burger.  So good.  We got dessert at Braums - this is my chocolate malt.  There are so many places that no longer do malts, so I appreciated Braums for this.  I also got their cherry limeade, which I think is better than Sonic's because it's more lime-y.  It mixed fairly well with vodka as well, though I should have stirred it better.  Meh.  Go figure.

Whilst we were eating and drinking, we were also chatting and discussing and watching movies.  If you know Todd, you know that he is more than a movie aficionado.  We watched all of the extended editions of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  I have to say that I agree with people who say the Hobbit was artificially inflated, but watching Billy Connolly in the last movie was *chefs kiss* and hilarious.  Todd sent me so many great movies while I was overseas, it was nice to be able to watch some together and discuss them.  Probably my favorite was Shin Godzilla which, as I am unfamiliar with much of the franchise, was fun because of the portrayal of how a disaster such as a giant monster going after Tokyo would be handled by Japan, the US, the UN, and various other countries.  I think it's a fantastic movie for anyone who is interested in international relations because it seems SO ACCURATE.

It was really nice to catch up with Todd.  I also really enjoyed watching the birds that he feeds on his balcony.  Most of the people that I've been catching up with have animals - he is smart enough to have animals that don't require vet visits and keep the bugs away.  Gotta hand it to him.  He also let me try some of his fruit leather that he has been making (very good) and defrosted some fudge (O.M.G. good) while I was there.  

The last day we got food at Zoes kitchen, a place that I had seen in TX but had never been to.  It was quite good.  I had the chicken kebabs with a salad and roasted veggies because I felt like my veggie count was low.  We then continued the movie fest and Todd broke out this bad boy.

We each had half... this beer is 17% alcohol... for those of you who don't know, 4-7 or 8% is standard.  This was the day that we watched Alien and the extended edition of Aliens (I didn't know James Cameron did that one), then we got into other movies that I don't remember the names of (17% beer, after all) and I finally succumbed to the comfy, soul-sucking couch and fell asleep on it.  

I know that I've said this before, but it's because it doesn't stop being true - I love my friends.  I know that I had a great time in TX and OK catching up and kinda picking up where we left off.  I love that my friends are the types who tell it like it is (my haircut is not too "butch" for example).  I am so incredibly blessed to have people in my world who have such good hearts.  I'd do anything for my people, and I'm lucky to have some people who feel the same about me.  I am so happy to have met so many people and I'm glad for the ones who stuck around... like an octopus on my FACE!  Or from the IT Crowd "You'll have a diseased face of friends!"  I don't want to brag too much, but I was truly overwhelmed by how much really didn't change in the manner of my friendships, and I'm incredibly grateful for that.  

So I'll show you the pix from the trip to WY and my first encounters with my mom's cats another time.  I would have got this posted sooner but one said cat was trying to eat my chromebook and kept getting in the way.  Apparently I was supposed to be loving on him, not updating.  I'm back in WY for about a week, then I'm heading to WA to see my older sis and bro-in-law.  I'm also getting my first Covid jab tomorrow (yay).  More later, but I just wanted to do a quick update.  Todd, I hope this works as an overview of the visit... for those who don't know us, here's the best quote from him, "If you can't tell, I like my birds more than most people.  (looks over)  Thank you for not being people."  Hehe... introverts UNITE: separately, in your own homes, without zoom.  MUAH!  Much love, all.