Who's That Following Us?

"Sister to sister we will always be,
A couple of nuts off the family tree."

-unknown

 My sisters and father had at times expressed the desire to move to Texas-Corpus Cristi area to be specific.  Oddly, through my sudden change in circumstance, I am the one who ended up moving here; even though I had never considered it.  I had no intention of bringing anybody along or influencing others to join me, after all the housing situation in Midland is inadequate, although the jobs are plentiful.  As it turns out, somebody was going to surprise me.

Karlie had found herself in a difficult situation in Idaho.  She was working overtime to make ends meet and along the way she was loosing her health and sanity.  She decided, as the circumstances presented themselves, she was going to join me in Texas for a fresh start.  

During John's visit to Idaho in August, we were able to help her find cute fifth-wheel of her own for an amazing price.  Her fifth-wheel has a single living room slide-out and a spacious front end kitchen.  Storage is abundant so she filled it with her things and has room to spare.  The wallpaper is peeling to reveal a nice wood finish underneath and the windows could use some coverings (Can you say projects!!).  She secured a place in the same trailer park as us, with our influence on the managers, and her home preceded her to Texas as John towed it down.  Sounds a little familiar doesn't it? (see post Small Space Living)

I truly enjoyed having my sister join me on this road trip, although keeping her on my tail made negotiating big city traffic a bit challenging.  We drove our final day through Arizona, New Mexico, and into Texas through a flash flood.  I continued to reassure her I moved her to a desert, but she was skeptical.  

Anxious to start making a paycheck she set out immediately to find a job.  With determination and no direction sense (a curse of my siblings, not myself), she managed to only get out 3 resumes the first day.  She was called for 4 interviews that afternoon and the next evening she was offered four jobs.  She accepted a position with Reliant Holdings Ltd. for $3 more an hour than she was asking and full benefits....welcome to Midland.

Karlie replacing breakers.

As she moved into her trailer, which John had parked for her in a spot about 3 blocks away from us, everything worked fine... to start with.  Not familiar with the constraints of RV living, she quickly blacked out her trailer by using a heater and hair dryer on the same breaker.  The breaker would not flip back so her house was in the dark for a few days.  She and I tried replacing the breakers and rigged a battery of mine to give her some temporary DC power, but in the end we girls failed and John was able to fix what we could not once he got off work...three days later.  Well, we tried!

Karlie easily made friends, as she often does, and was soon joining her new friends for house warming parties, dinner parties, football games, ice-skating, soccer nights and the like.  

What a  beautiful bunch of girls!!

Rooting for the Longhorns...and they won!!

She even managed a camping trip over the Thanksgiving weekend to Inks Lake to visit our friends from Corpus Cristi.  (I'll have to make her do a guest blog on that one.)

John and I are happy to have her here where we can help her get going, point her in the right direction, literally and figuratively, and enjoy her company.  Karlie has found, as I do, that Midland is not the prettiest place,  but with a positive outlook and surrounding yourself with awesome people, any place can be great.  She's really making her own way successful out here.

 

Little Adventures

 "Play is our brain's favorite way of learning"

- Diane Ackerman

One of the many sculptures at a local park.

Carousel at the mall.

One of the fun things about moving to a new area is finding out what fun activities are at your disposal.  We loved our day at Monahans National Monument and hope to find more family activities like that one.  We're well on our way to finding some really great things to do as a family.

Recently we explored the weekly local flee market which will full of hundreds of unique items.  We left with a few drinks and a bow for Zoey's hair.  I wasn't looking for much due to our small living space, but it was fun; though, I think I would do better there if I learned more Spanish.  While searching for the local Farmer's Market, we ended up at the local fair for the Midland Arts Counsel, which had hundreds of displays to tempt any art lover. After hours of walking we decided to reserve the Farmers Market for another day.

Zoey and Babs

  Most of my activities  involve the entertainment of my little girl.  At first we found ourselves filling our time at the public parks in the area or at the ponds feeding the birds and ducks, and we still do, but we also found some additional activities to fill a little girl's days with adventure.
One of those places is the Odessa Mall.  It' s a short 15 minute drive from our home and this mall definitely caters to families. There is an indoor ice skating rink at center court; but I have yet to take Zoey out since I sustained a knee injury as a teen and am unsure of it on ice, yet I'm sure we'll figure out how to get that kid on ice soon enough. There are two play areas throughout the corridors complete with slides and tubes to climb through, which Zoey makes full use of both of them.  There is also a carousel and a small train for the kids to ride (for a price). On Saturday they have someone creating balloon animals of each child's choice (free of charge), and these are pretty elaborate animals by most standards, you just have to be willing to wait in line.  Of course Zoey chose the pink Babs Bunny.

Since our arrival in the area, we have noticed carnival rides at every turn.  Sometimes in Odessa and sometimes in Midland, but they never seem to leave the, yet.  After realizing the rides set up at the Midland Mall didn't require admission (I hate paying admission to something I'm going to spend more money at), we decided to take Zoey to the rides.  Pulling up she saw the drop ride and the Kamikaze, she declared that she was going on those rides and "Don't worry Mom, I'm not scared."  Although she didn't meet the height requirements for those rides, I'd have to say I was pretty proud of her bravery. We bought her an unlimited pass and a few tickets for Mom and Dad to join her on the kiddie rides that required a parent to accompany her.  She rode every ride without hesitation and loved it.  Her favorites were the giant slides (we got some air on those) and the caterpillar roller-coaster. John and I kept putting a hand of comfort on her as parents do, but she defiantly pushed our hands away, because she can do it herself (she's getting so big).  Hearing her little squeals of delight whenever zoomed at higher speeds or flew through the air on the slides was priceless. 

The last days, weeks and months have been a blast.  I'm sure there is still so much more we can enjoy in this area and I can't wait to find the next adventure for my little girl.

On the rides with Daddy

I don't need hands for this ride!!

I can steer this thing!!!

Little Surprises

Zoey inspecting the pond.

Beal Park (clubhouse)

I'll be the first to admit I hadn't been thrilled with moving from scenic Idaho to flat and dry west Texas.  Making the move in winter time when there are no leaves or flowers to be seen definitely affected my initial opinion, but I have found some pleasant surprises as spring has sprung in my new home.

One night I was awoken by thunder rumbling in the distance.  Staring out my little RV window which is located next to my pillow I could see lightning dance through the clouds in a non-stop show of beauty.  Back home, lightning storms are few and far between and involve some large strikes here and there.  Here I saw a something totally different and magnificent.  Had it not been 1 a.m., I would have gone outside and sat in a lawn chair to enjoy the show of several bolts a second skipping from cloud to cloud. I look forward to more beautiful storms like that one.

Turtles Sun Bathing

Zoey and I have taken full advantage of the temperate winter and spring weather and ventured to a number of the public parks in the area.  The parks not only have the traditional play equipment, trees and baseball fields, but most have a small pond feature full of ducks, frogs, turtles and of course fish.  Often the grass has endured the onslaught of ground squirrels and gophers, but these well adjusted (and stupidly brave) rodents provide ongoing entertainment for children and adults alike.

Where the Sidewalk Ends

Zoey always has to fill her list of activities at the park; (1) Play on the toys and make a friend, (2) Find Creatures, (3) Go for a walk/bike ride.  She often takes her shovels so she can "build a castle", which involves digging a hole as deep as she can get it, and does her best to recruit any child her age to play with her.  On one of our bike rides we found it....Where the Sidewalk Ends. (Shel Silverstein)
 
The biggest surprise is the many wildflowers that have bloomed as the weather heats up.  All along the roadways, in empty fields, on medians and even in my weedy front yard flowers have started to bloom.  Large patches of white, yellow, orange and purple can be seen everywhere.  I just had to get some pictures before the heat of summer scorches them away. Unfortunately I didn't realize my resolution on my camera was low, but you will get the idea.