a blended life

A few things Miami lacks: (These are not things I necessarily want or need or use. I'm just pointing out some stuff.) 1. Kids 2. Tanning beds 3. Sunscreen You know why it lacks #2 and #3?! NOBODY NEEDS THEM. On the other hand, I need my SIL Karina here to make fun of my pasty white vampire skin that got HORRIFICALLY burnt the other day. 4. Mexican food 5. Walmart 6. Old, beat up cars 7. Big dogs 8. Feral cat control ****************segue to next topic**************** Job nightmare: I honestly don't know how much to write about this, so I will make it as succinct as possible and surely leave out important details.  First of all, I knew when Jacob and I were dating that he would be sent to another city/state to finish the last two years of school. That was part of the deal, the plan. I agreed, and contrary to what my family thinks of my decision making, I put a great deal of thought into this and how it would affect my life, my kids, by future...

Change and decay in all around I see O, Thou who changest not, Abide with me! I find a lot of comfort in church hymns (and many other types of music) and some of these phrases have accompanied me throughout the past few weeks. Jacob started his 3rd year of medicine whilst in the middle of trying to secure housing and having a neurotic wife to soothe. It was a terrible time for him to go into his new assignment and neither of us were very prepared. I'll have an eternal image in my head of us sitting on Starbuck's couches (since we still don't have a home at this time), drinking hot chocolate in the midst of a Miami summer, Jacob reading new textbooks and I have a wad of safety pins strewn about, desperately trying to hem his white coat (shorter white coats=newbie, longer white coats=seasoned physician) so he could go back to the hospital in the morning with some ounce of respectability...and with a coat short enough to show that he knew his place in the pecking order. W...

Jacob likes to point out that "some of us have left the small, college-town bubble and joined society". He's right--I've lived in college towns my whole life and Miami is nothing but a huge rude awakening.  The biggest surprise has been how WHITE I am. In most places, I am the only white girl.  I've noticed that there are some Euro-Latin mixes from Argentina or Spain or who knows. I look like one of those. White skin, dark features. It took me a full week to figure out why people would randomly speak to me in Spanish. They thought I was a fluent native. I've started responding in a really bad American spanish accent just to see their reaction. I could spend a great deal of space writing about the nightmare that has been HOUSING. But I'm tired of my complaints, I'm tired of rental agreements, and frankly, I'm just really tired. So I'll write about some happy things.  Like THIS BOOKSTORE!!!! OH MY GOODNESS, FRIENDS!!!! Come and v...

I think we're starting to come out of shock and into an acceptance/resignation state of mind. Miami has a lot of extremes--extremely beautiful land, extremely humid weather. In many parts, even downtown, the place looks like a tropical jungle. We spent the first few days shrieking and guffawing over things like wild peacocks and geckos: I tried to go grocery shopping the second day. Really I tried. There was an entire section of fruits and vegetables that I had never heard of or seen--strange names, knobby, dirty tubers and 2 foot long aloe leaves. I had to try this Slimcado. It's Florida's version of the avocado but without the fat or calories. This is a very weight conscious place and I've hardly seen any overweight people. It makes me feel chunky all the time. Anyway, don't bother trying the Slimcado. It tastes like a Louisiana bayou. I have no pictures of the 4th since both phones ran out of batteries. Or they got too hot and humid and qui...

So much has happened this month that I can't go into detail and I'm still in the middle of the madness so my head is still spinning. But we've had some great things, and some not so great, so here they are. I'm pretty sure I only took pictures of the great. Isn't that how it always works? This important event happened: We hiked to the Grotto--a delightful little waterfall/cave on Mt. Nebo. It was 50 degrees and the middle of June and right about this time I thought, I'm ready for Florida.  Jacob and Leah tried to go up a really steep part of the trail. This was the only way they made it down: My lovely, sweet, way too mature, drama queen 10 year old had a birthday. She got some GREAT clothes from her aunt Jen and grandma, plus I made her a mermaid tail Here are the tails. They can't wait to get to Miami to try them out on the beach. Jacob even offered to wear a merman tail if I made him one....this is so tempting.  ...