Good food and getting lost
Okay two things to talk about tonight. First, I know that I have had it good the last many months. I moved into the Dobbins' house where Darin liked to cook and was really good at it. I ate healthier and ate better food than I probably even did when I was living at home in high school. Basically I don't like to cook. I enjoy helping prepare food with someone but left to my own devices I will make a chicken broth with an egg in it and call it good. So call me spoiled because I ended up again in a house where the man likes to cook. I think it is a sign. My uncle Phil really enjoys cooking. He is retired and all of the kids are off doing their own thing so he cooks a meal every night and has it ready when his wife gets home. He also prepares her lunch for the next day. Yes, folks, that is a little piece of heaven. And he cooks good food and he wants to know what I like and don't like so that he can prepare according to me too!! Ahhh, such is the life. I am eating well, perhaps too well because now I am set up and have certain high expectations for the future. Anyway, my next topic for discussion is how I managed to get myself lost on the same route to the same stores that I have visited at least twice before. Sounds pathetic, I know. I am supposed to go south on the interstate but I headed north because the signs say city names and I still don't have any idea what cities are around me so that I can direct myself in the right direction. Never fear, after almost an hour I made it back to where I started. This may seems like a hassle but given my current "bored out of my mind" situation it is actually a blessing because it helps to pass the time. Now I am digesting my wonderful dinner and eating some chocolate. Kind of anyway. It is peanut butter and chocolate. See something is seriously wrong because I don't like chocolate. I think it relates to my situation above. All for now.
Finally out of the house!!
I spent the last 2 days with something to do! Finally I had a life however short it lasted. My cousin, Matt, and I met my other cousin, Krista, in Flint for lunch on Saturday and then Krista and I went down to stay at her mom's house. A little family tree for you... I am staying with Carol and Phil who have three kids, Matt (a teacher), Danny (working as a paramedic in CO and right now at the X-Games), and Katie (in college across the state). My aunt Jan lives about an hour away and has four kids, Laura (and husband Eric live in Seattle), Kelly (and husband Bill are just relocating back to Michigan), Cindy (and husband Kevin live near DC), and Krista (works across the state). I am hoping that helps my stories make more sense. Anyway, we spent Saturday with her mom and a family friend walking through a nature reserve (very beautiful but I didnt bring my camera) and then had dinner at a wonderful Thai restaurant. Even better than Lava but not as good as Emily's. Today we just layed around and had dinner with Kelly and Bill before she dropped me off back here. I almost felt like I had a life. Now comes the long week...
On edge...
I think I am losing it. This week has been a real struggle for some reason. I have had some interesting adventures but I think that I have just had too much down time. I am a solitary person but I think that I need more social contact than what I have here right now. So I have been on edge. I know I need to get out more but you can only go shopping so much when you are poor....
Well water stinks
I have used well water before. In fact our cabin in Red Lodge has well water. But I have never experienced well water quite like the water here. It stinks! And I don't mean just a little. It stinks like rotten eggs and no one else seems to notice. I have this thing with smells. I seem to be able to smell things that others don't notice. Remember my clothes girls? Sometimes they would smell funny and Fawn was the only one who seemed to smell it too. Anyway, so I think that water stinks but I don't think that I stink. In fact I finally smell like myself again because I have organized my bathroom stuff and the shower has all of my gear in it. Yea for smelling good.
Stoplights and Interstates
Yes stoplights are different out here. Rather than large silver poles with large lights on top they have wires running across the road with these small yellow lights. Makes me very nervous that I am going to miss a light because I just don't notice it. One thing I didn't notice until it was too late was that a lot of intersections have a "No turn on red" sign. Or they have these no turn signs between certain hours. So you can turn on red if it is after 6pm but before 6am. What kind of logic is that? I am not sure I understand. The other thing about lights is that most don't have green left turn signals. Instead you see a red blinking light that is the signal that you can turn when it is clear. The first time that I saw that I didn't know what to do. Today I asked my uncle what the heck it meant. He laughed at me but what do I know, I have never seen that before. And interstates aren't any less confusing. I drove myself up to Flint today to run some errands. I went to the only mall I have seen and drove around looking for the other stores that I needed to go to. I figured Best Buy would be near the mall. I ran into a little trouble on the way back. Out here the interstates are set up really strange. First of all, you don't always exit on the right. I have seen that before in other big cities but I am still not ready for it when you are coming up on the exit and you need to cross 4 lanes of traffic to exit on the other side. Yes I have been honked at. But that is the advantage of having out of state plates. Although Michigan drivers aren't that great so they probably would not think anyhing of it if I had Michigan plates either. Anyway, today I got on the interstate to head back and watch out, interstates divide all the time and you end up going the wrong way. Yep I got on the wrong road and ended up right back where I started. The exact exit. But I didnt realize that until I drove past it. So I got on anoher interstate that was headed south and just happened to pick one that merged back into the one I wanted originally. It was confusing but I did it. Pretty proud of myself for that small accomplishment.
Lost in nowhere Michigan
Right, remember how I said that I would safety-pin my name and address to the back of my coat? Well it didn't do any good. I still managed to get myself lost shortly after I started my drive back to where I am staying. So I got up and headed out. I figured that I could stop at the post office that we drove past on the way down to my aunt's house. This was yesterday and less than one day later I still managed to take a wrong turn and end up who knows where and miss the only post office I have seen out here. So much for planning ahead and getting mail ready to be sent. Don't worry, I will try again tomorrow. I had help getting myself oriented on the right road and then I was on my way. I needed help later in the drive as well but I did make it back. I was planned on going out again to try to run some errands but it was snowing and cold and I decided to stay in and organize my stuff. I have now officially unpacked everything. That was the big excitement in my day. Now I am sitting in my room freezing because the wood stove just isn't cranking out enough heat to reach me.
I have an address!
Yep, that's right! I officially have an address. I am staying at my aunt and uncle's house. This is interesting because they live in a really, really old farmhouse and all three of their kids are gone. So the interesting part is that they use a woodstove to heat the main floor because that is where they live. Upstairs are three bedrooms and a bathroom where I will be staying with no heat!! That is right, they don't turn on the furnace normally because the stove puts out enough heat for the main floor. And I thought my brother's house was cold! Sometimes I thought the Dobbins' house was cold but this is a totally different kind of cold. Lake effect is what they call it. Whatever you want to call it-brrr. So today was my mom's last day here. That makes me nervous because she knows where things are...like where I live. I am not confident that I will make it back. But I need to start at the beginning. Today both of my aunts went back to work so my mom and I unloaded my car and started settling up my room. That was a great feeling because I have essentially been living out of the car for just over 2 weeks. Long time. Then we went up to Flushing to see where my mom's family all grew up. I heard some of her hick stories and trouble that they got into when she and her sisters and brothers were younger. We also got to see my grandma and grandpa's (my mom's parents) gravesite. That was a story in itself because we have only been there when they were buried several years ago. So we were up on this hill in the cemetary kicking snow around to try to uncover where their marker was from memory. "I think we they are by this tree....No, higher up on the hill....No, maybe by this tree..." We did eventually find the marker and then remembered stories like when my cousin asked, "How did Grandma get into that box?" (she was cremated) and when the same cousin farted on a plastic chair in the middle of the priest prayer for my grandpa at the viewing and all of the kids and some of the adults trying so hard not to giggle because it was so loud and amplified by the chair. Yeah, interesting things happen when little kids experience death. My cousin was probably 4 or 5 at the time. So to end the day, my mom and I drove down to another sister's house to stay the night because her sister is going to be driving her to the airport at 4 am instead of me. No complaints here. However, my problem lies in the fact that I am not sure about getting myself back to where I am staying. To get here we took all of these little back roads that aren't necessarily on the map that I bought today. I figure if I am still wandering around after 5pm someone will be off work and able to get me some directions. As long as I don't end up back in Ohio I figure I am okay. Oh wait, it is another adventure. Don't worry I will have my name and address safety-pinned to the back of my coat in case I get lost.
That is right, somewhere in Michigan. I have no idea where I am at and I am afraid that if I tried to leave my aunt and uncle's house I would never find my way back. That scares me. However, tomorrow I am going to go try to find a map of the area so that I can leave with some sort of confidence. Dont worry I am not going shopping alone, so I will make it back tomorrow. After that my mom is leaving and I will no longer have someone to tell me where to go. That will be scary. My sense of direction sucks anyway. So today I went to see my cousin's house. He bought a trashed house to fix up. It is really nice now and you can tell that he has been working hard. It is a bachelor house except for the floral couches he inherited when my grandma died. Seeing those with the big screen tv and video games made me laugh. I also watched football with another cousin's husband. Woo hoo. Since the superbowl is in Detroit it is a much bigger deal who makes it I guess. What do I know anyway? So I will let you know about my other adventures as they happen tomorrow. I think that I will be staying at this aunt and uncle's house for now, at least I think so. I dont know what the address is here but I will ask soon. That is all for today.
Cleveland, OH
Woo hoo, second entry. I have spent a couple of days in Cleveland, OH visiting with my younger brother, Chris. He works out here for a shipping company on Lake Erie, I think. Anyway, those who know me also know that I love looking at old houses and I really like real estate magazines. So Chris lives in this old house with original doors, floors, windows, and woodwork. It is beautiful. However, it does not hold heat very well. It seems especially cold for western folk who aren't used to the cold coming off the lake. He is only a couple of blocks from the water. He is trying to collect furniture and stuff to decorate but it is a bachelor pad. He had great leather furniture in a dark color and he has a great collection of stuff to decorate from all of his travels. His pictures are of Africa and Vietnam and the ocean and he has wooden animals and trinkets from Africa and the Middle East. So considering his marital state, he is doing really well. This entire area is full of old two story colonial houses with double porches. I think it is great and I have been collecting real estate magazines to look through despite the fact that my mom and my brother are making fun of me. Such is life I guess. Anyway, so we also got to see the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in downtown Cleveland yesterday, see the lake, hang out at a Caribou Coffee shop, and see some of the downtown. The Hall of Fame was fun to walk through but now I know more about The Who than I ever wanted to know. That was the special exibit for the month, their rock opera, Tommy. The rest of the exibits were very interesting with tons of pictures, clothing, and videos about the bands. There was even a huge wall for Pink Floyd, The Wall. Plus we got to see stuff for great bands and singers like James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Aerosmith, CCR, The Beatles, and pretty much anyone you can think of. The memoriabilia was great. So that is what I have been doing in Cleveland. In a couple of hours I will head up to Michigan to meet up with my relatives there. No, I dont know where I am living yet but I guess I will figure that out pretty soon.
Ist Ever
Ya, so I looked at Sara's blog and consequently Fawn's blog and decided that maybe this was a good idea to start doing. That way I could sort of journal and if people were interested they could read it rather than trying to keep up on emailing everyone. Because I have an idea about how that will work out, I suck. But I want to keep in touch and let everyone know what is happening here. So this is the end of my first post....
