The Good Life

Back from Modesto

April 5, 2010

This weekend was a tough one. A 7 hour drive, followed by three more driving around town, a baby at the limit of his patience and no naptime, a whole family sleep in a bed too small for a little someone who likes to sleep perpendicular to the rest of us, another day driving all around town, panic attacks at what was – and wasn’t – available, and then another 7 hour drive home.

Long story short, we still don’t have a place to live. We have a couple more leads we’re chasing down, but it looks like our choice is going to come down to “really great house in an area we didn’t want to live in” or “smelly old house in a good neighborhood.” The area we didn’t want to live in is actually in Ceres, which is 5 miles south of Modesto, and a pocket of new builder homes in a really run down area. The house is pretty awesome – granite counters that sent Bear off into a dreamland of perfectly rolled pie crusts – plenty of space on a quiet street. But the rest of the area, it’s fairly dismal. It looks like the last few years have been really hard on Modesto and the surrounding areas.

This is the local landmark – the Modesto Arch. It’s inscription reads, “Water, wealth, contentment, health”. A reader from the area shared a laugh with me about the town’s reputation when she wrote that the motto is often replaced with “Murder, meth, and auto-theft”. We kid because we love. It’s not a dangerous place to be, unless you’re a car, but that’s what people know about it.

We were flying around town so fast I really didn’t get a chance to do a proper photo tour or anything, but I snapped this one at a red light. One of my favorite things about Modesto is that it is absolutely awash with art deco influence. It’s obvious that it’s first boom time was in the 40’s. You can feel that inspiration everywhere.

This is the new Gallo Center for the Arts. It’s only been open for a few years. Unfortunately, I think we just passed through the most recent boom time. This art center was built and there were probably thousands of new homes built, brand new builder homes – McMansions, if you will. But when the housing market burst, so did the economy of Modesto. The only industry here is agriculture. Most of the people buying homes were people who commuted out to San Francisco every day, and when they couldn’t make their mortgage payments and pay for the gas to drive in, they walked away from the homes.

It’s pretty sad to see it, this city I loved is going through a rough time. We saw entire streets with “For Sale” signs out front. Areas where building had been abandoned half way through. Beautiful homes on one side of the street, overgrown vacant lot on the other. And of course, no one willing to lend money to buy any of those homes.

But, despite the recent hardships, it’s still a great place to live. There are two things fighting for top billing in my list of why I love Modesto. 1) It’s a small pond where the fish are helping each other get bigger. Down here, there’s really no such thing as city limits. A San Diego get together encompasses the entire county. Which means a lot of competition for everything – opportunity, attention, space. In Modesto, you have a community that’s apart from big city influence, but with big city aspiration. I have a buddy I used to sing with who might be an opening act in that big fancy Gallo Center. I had friends who featured in the local galleries, who put on big events. This is a fantastic place to be for a creative type. Lots of opportunity without all the big city competition.

And 2) Where else can you spend your whole summer going from one festival to the other? Off the top of my head we went to the Asparagus festival, the Garlic festival, the Chocolate festival, and the Fruit and Nut festival, but I know I’m missing some. Every little town has their own point of pride they celebrate come summer time, and that celebrating always involves fried food. That’s something to be proud of.

Filed Under: Are you kidding me?, The Good Life

Happy Easter

April 4, 2010

Filed Under: Matters of Faith, Stuff I Grow, The Good Life

Plumbing my depths

March 31, 2010

Now that we’re going to be landlords, we have to make sure that everything actually works in the house. I’ve been far more preoccupied with how pretty everything is, but renters don’t care so much about the stuff I made to hang on the walls, they just want things to work when they need them. Silly renters.

Three of our four sinks haven’t really worked the whole time we’ve lived here. There’s a little lever in your drain that pushes the stopper up or lets it fall down depending on if you want the sink plugged or not, and all at once, that lever broke off in three sinks. It’s like it had a timer on it or something. Paying for a plumber was really not high on our priority list, so we just took the stopper out altogether and used the sinks with a wide open drain.

But that’s kind of poor form for a landlord, so we finally had to address it. A plumber gave us an estimate of $300 a sink, and after I caught my breath I decided to try it myself.

It took about three trips to Lowe’s, lots of advice from a great plumbing expert there, a whole lot of swearing, maybe a little crying, but I did it. I ran into all kinds of quirky little problems that come from stupid builders, I sawed through PVC and replaced traps, I broke out the plumbers putty and the plumbers tape and got the whole thing water tight. And I saved us $900.

When you are a stay at home mom, there are so many small rewards that get you through your day. But what I really miss are the advancements, the raises, the proof that you are doing a good job. Parenting is just one big leap of faith. You never get to say, “I improved productivity by 25% this year.” You don’t get to measure your performance. Here’s one time I have something quantifiable to hang my hat on and I want to shout it from the rooftops. I saved us $900! Somebody needs to give me a plaque or something.

Filed Under: My Dreamhouse in Progress, The Good Life

2010 Year of Pleasures #13

March 30, 2010

Don’t you wish *anything* made you this happy as an adult? Oh wait. I can think of one thing, and he loves bubbles.

Filed Under: mama musings, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

Spring in San Diego

March 25, 2010

I finally got outside to do the garden maintenance I had been putting off, and once I pulled out all of the poppies that had sprouted from last year’s seeds, I found these little lettuce buds hiding underneath.

These will be a nice little treat to eat while I’m waiting for the rest of my garden to grow.

During that same excursion I got all my ranunculus bulbs back in the ground, and found a couple already sprouting. Either they didn’t sprout last year or I somehow missed them when I dug them all back up, but there were a couple already at work growing before I even got the others in the ground.

A couple weeks later and look what I’ve already got growing outside.

Spring in San Diego is just the most glorious time. My roses are blooming, the bees are buzzing, and Atti keeps crawling over to the sliding glass door and saying, “Outside? Outside?”

I think he’s got the right idea.

Filed Under: Stuff I Grow, The Good Life

Our Visions, Our Voices

March 24, 2010

Monday night I spent nearly four hours in the car to attend a reading by Mormon women writers. Some of these women were new to me, some of them were my heroes, and I got to sit and listen to the words that belied the most tender feelings of their hearts.

Joanna Brooks, that smoking brunette in the front row, said that she was sick of books like The 19th Wife, or tales told as some sort of outside expose. We LDS women have a story. And we deserve to tell it ourselves.

When she said that, I felt pierced right to the heart. It’s no secret that I’ve long longed to write a book. That’s what got me blogging in the first place. It’s on my big crafty to do list. When she said, “It’s time.” it felt like she was speaking directly to me.

Here’s the thing. The book I want to write is a memoir. About my childhood. And I think that many family members would take exception to it, even if every word was documented fact. It’s a tricky issue – respecting privacy, even just not wanting to deal with any fallout – while still being honest about what happened and true to what I feel called to create. I have no idea how to deal with it, so I usually just don’t.

I don’t know. But I’m worrying at least four steps ahead of where I am. I should probably write the thing before I give myself an ulcer over how people would react to it.

I also got to meet up with a couple bloggy friends. Hi Lauren and Hannah! You guys made my night.

The reading was such an amazing experience. Inspiring, uniting as a community of sisters, it gave me so much hope to carry on when I feel like a square peg in a round hole. The tour has three more stops, all in Utah now, Thursday in Cedar City, Friday in Orem, and Saturday in Salt Lake. More info can be found here.

Filed Under: Matters of Faith, The Good Life

2010 Year of Pleasures #12

March 23, 2010

I totally poached this little sculpture from my inlaw’s house.

Well, I couldn’t bring myself to outright swipe it, so I really just wandered around their house for a day saying, “Wow, I sure do like this sculpture! It was just sitting in a drawer in the guest room. It sure would look nice at my house….” Stopping just short of saying, “Hint. Hint.” Finally my mother in law just told me to take it. Most likely so I would shut up already.

It’s a metal casting with a really cool patina on it, and while I’m already so perilously close to crazy cat lady territory I really shouldn’t be bringing cat-themed knick-knacks into the equation, it was just too cool to resist.

Filed Under: crazy cat lady, My Dreamhouse in Progress, The Good Life, Year of Pleasures

Glimpse of the future

March 22, 2010

A few weeks ago PBS showed a recording of the Broadway play “Passing Strange.” Bear and I both really love musical theater, but we don’t get to go much anymore, and we certainly don’t get to see something new and groundbreaking like “Passing Strange.” We’re happy and grateful when we get to see the occasional touring company of something. Having a performance filmed and aired on PBS is such a treat.

I watched it a while back when I had a rare day home with Atti. I nestled into the couch with my knitting and tossed some toys around for Atti to crawl back and forth between and entertain himself, but I don’t think he touched them once.

The moment the music started, Atti was transfixed. He watched the entire thing with me, absolutely mesmerized.

I’ve turned out to be a little bit of a late bloomer, and I’ve often wished I had more chances for education. I’ve wondered aloud many times, How did Michael Jordan find out he was Michael Jordan? What if Tiger Woods never picked up a golf club? Maybe there’s a skill buried in me that is waiting to be discovered, and I could be really good if only I gave it a try. But since there are a million and a half things to do in this world, who ever gets around to trying it all? I guess there has to be some magical moment when the talented person sees something for the first time and feels called to it.

I don’t think I’ll be terribly surprised to think back on that day, to re-read this blog post, and see that this is where it all started.

Filed Under: Atticus, The Good Life

Happy Cerebral Palsy Awareness Day!

March 20, 2010

Cerebral Palsy is a brain injury that occurs either during pregnancy or shortly after birth. There are many causes: problems during pregnancy, infection, brain bleeds, traumatic birth, and as in Atti’s case, oxygen deprivation. Whatever the cause, the damage inflicted to the brain is in the area that governs motor skills.

The brain works like a big electrical circuit board. Messages go from the brain through a system of neurons, like electricity through wires, until it reaches the muscle and tells it to move. When the brain is damaged in this area, it’s like the wires are cut and there’s a blockage in between them.

Because the brain is a marvel, as these kids grow they can often develop new pathways. So to continue our analogy, it’s like the wire can snake around the blockage and repair itself. But this requires more work than I can find words to describe, a staff of dedicated therapists, constant stimulation, a very determined kid, just the right kind of injury, and a whole lot of luck.

I give thanks every day that so far, I have all that.

Atti loves his therapists. He loves physical therapy. He wants to move so much. He talks like crazy and I can usually tell what he means.

He is the happiest little kid. Tenderhearted and affectionate. He loves animals and music, I think he’s going to grow up to be my little poet. When we go horseback riding he spends half the time patting the horse on her fuzzy rump. He’ll crawl over to me and press his forehead against my lips for a kiss, and then lift it up and drop it back over and over and over again, making me give him kiss after kiss after kiss.

He is the light of my life.

Cerebral Palsy makes life complicated, but it’s no tragedy.

For more information, check out the CDC’s site.

Filed Under: Are you kidding me?, Atticus, Do-gooding, The Good Life

Continued Goodwill Luck…..Sorta

March 18, 2010

I have been searching and searching for the right something to hang in this one spot in the kitchen. I have some ideas for projects, so I was really hoping to find some decent frames, but all the new ones are the same old sizes and I was hoping for something unique.

I found unique alright. These two frames totaled less than 10$ at my weekly Goodwill trip. I thought for certain one of them would work, but, of course, they were both too big.

It’s alright, I have a whole lot of blank wall space to use up. They’ll get used eventually. Meanwhile I have this one spot in my kitchen that is aggressively blank, and these little beauties will have to make themselves home in the garage. I’m sure I’ll be grateful for them once I get around to the bedroom.