One year ago today, I bought my 4-Runner. It has been a great car so far, even if I have been kind of rough on the side mirrors. BUT...I should have bought a VW Beetle instead of the SUV, and here is why...
Today I went to Nocona. I went because my 3 cousins were in from Alaska. I didn't really look forward to driving 100 miles there, only to spend a few hours and then drive 100 miles back, but they came from ALASKA, so that seemed like the least I could do.
Heather and Autumn live in Anchorage, while Julie lives in Nome. It's been many years since all three of them were here in Texas together and it was nice to see them all.
Random facts: Julie used to live just outside of Fairbanks in a town called "North Pole". To make it better, the street she lived on was called "Loose Moose Loop". I told her today that I miss getting to send a Christmas Card to Loose Moose Loop in North Pole. Now she lives in Nome right by where the iditarod race is finished.
Here we all are... (left to right: Heather, Autumn, Me, and Julie)
Autumn has two of the most well behaved and well mannered kids I've ever been around. Ethan, who loved the leaf piles...
and Merica, who has pretty red hair...
Julie has a little girl that is ever bit as sassy as Julie was when she was little, and she is adorable. Meet Miss Ayla...
Now back to the 4-Runner vs. Beetle situation. My Mom has been cleaning out closets because at some point in the next few months, they are doing a major remodel of both bathrooms and incorporating one of the closets in their bedroom to make the bathrooms a little bit bigger. Well I have been hearing about how much of my childhood crap she has in a closet and how ridiculous it is that I'm wanting to hang on to these things when she is out of storage room. She had a nice big pile of stuff for me to take home and a nice big pile of stuff for me to sort through.
We found my baby blanket...
Yep, that tattered heap of a mess is my blanket. At one point it had ducks all over it (I think). You can't say it wasn't well loved! I checked. It still felt very comforting to run the satin edges between my fingers (which is what I always did with it).
There was much evidence of my years of Andre Agassi obsession...
I tossed the multiple cork boards filled with every newspaper clipping, advertisement and Tennis Magazine article, but kept my now "Vintage Agassi" posters. I may have to hang them in my closet :)
I sorted through every college report card, high school report card, stupid certificate I ever received, newspaper clipping (and the multiples of every clipping) and every other piece of crap my Mom had kept. Here was the real kicker. The real, "what the heck is wrong with you and why are you keeping this" thing I found was a receipt for my prom dress. THE RECEIPT FOR MY PROM DRESS! FROM 1994!!! It was at this point, that I told Mom I didn't really think she had accurately diagnosed her storage problem. The problem was not that that I was sentimental about my stuffed Mickey Mouse and some Barbie dolls, but the fact that she was a pack rat! Dad asked if she thought we were going to return it.
We filled a dumpster. We filled my car. And then I left. And that folks is why I should have bought a beetle instead of a SUV! So Mom couldn't ship an SUV full of boxes of stuff home with me for me to now figure out where to store it!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I currently have a copy of every Danielle Steel book ever written in the back of my car too awaiting a trip to Half Price Books...unless Mom comes and steals them back during the night!
Today I went to Nocona. I went because my 3 cousins were in from Alaska. I didn't really look forward to driving 100 miles there, only to spend a few hours and then drive 100 miles back, but they came from ALASKA, so that seemed like the least I could do.
Heather and Autumn live in Anchorage, while Julie lives in Nome. It's been many years since all three of them were here in Texas together and it was nice to see them all.
Random facts: Julie used to live just outside of Fairbanks in a town called "North Pole". To make it better, the street she lived on was called "Loose Moose Loop". I told her today that I miss getting to send a Christmas Card to Loose Moose Loop in North Pole. Now she lives in Nome right by where the iditarod race is finished.
Here we all are... (left to right: Heather, Autumn, Me, and Julie)
Autumn has two of the most well behaved and well mannered kids I've ever been around. Ethan, who loved the leaf piles...
and Merica, who has pretty red hair...
Julie has a little girl that is ever bit as sassy as Julie was when she was little, and she is adorable. Meet Miss Ayla...
Now back to the 4-Runner vs. Beetle situation. My Mom has been cleaning out closets because at some point in the next few months, they are doing a major remodel of both bathrooms and incorporating one of the closets in their bedroom to make the bathrooms a little bit bigger. Well I have been hearing about how much of my childhood crap she has in a closet and how ridiculous it is that I'm wanting to hang on to these things when she is out of storage room. She had a nice big pile of stuff for me to take home and a nice big pile of stuff for me to sort through.
We found my baby blanket...
Yep, that tattered heap of a mess is my blanket. At one point it had ducks all over it (I think). You can't say it wasn't well loved! I checked. It still felt very comforting to run the satin edges between my fingers (which is what I always did with it).
There was much evidence of my years of Andre Agassi obsession...
I tossed the multiple cork boards filled with every newspaper clipping, advertisement and Tennis Magazine article, but kept my now "Vintage Agassi" posters. I may have to hang them in my closet :)
I sorted through every college report card, high school report card, stupid certificate I ever received, newspaper clipping (and the multiples of every clipping) and every other piece of crap my Mom had kept. Here was the real kicker. The real, "what the heck is wrong with you and why are you keeping this" thing I found was a receipt for my prom dress. THE RECEIPT FOR MY PROM DRESS! FROM 1994!!! It was at this point, that I told Mom I didn't really think she had accurately diagnosed her storage problem. The problem was not that that I was sentimental about my stuffed Mickey Mouse and some Barbie dolls, but the fact that she was a pack rat! Dad asked if she thought we were going to return it.
We filled a dumpster. We filled my car. And then I left. And that folks is why I should have bought a beetle instead of a SUV! So Mom couldn't ship an SUV full of boxes of stuff home with me for me to now figure out where to store it!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that I currently have a copy of every Danielle Steel book ever written in the back of my car too awaiting a trip to Half Price Books...unless Mom comes and steals them back during the night!
Comments
What a fun day trip. Glad you got to see your cousins!