I'm Just the Same As I Was

This season of life I'm in is especially quirky.  Working, sleeping, and everything in between.  Keeping a house by myself. Budgeting. Planning the future. Trying to enjoy the moment.  I am beginning to love it, which is a relief. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this being an nurse thing and having lives in my hands.  I'm still very single.  I have a few new friends.  A few old friends faded away unexpectedly, but that's really their choice and I respect that I don't have a place in what they need right now.  

Anyway, some pictures:

I'm Looking for a Dime

"She decided to free herself, dance in the wind, create a new language.  And birds fluttered around her, writing "yes" in the sky". 
-Monique Duval

I have this friend who taught me a clapping song when we were ten.  She doesn't remember it but I do and it was in Spanish and I thought she was super cool at the time.

That same friend would wrap me in her arms years later when I was depressed and lonely and confused.  She understood when I canceled plans and drove hours and did things quite sporadically.  She never judged me or got annoyed with my craziness.

When we were taking a dance class in high school, we used to lay on our backs with our legs straight up in the air, against a wall and sing rap songs, making our feet dance and laughing until it hurt.  Once I mentioned how much I loved the piggy bank I had gotten from Mexico but I was sad that I had had to break out the bottom.  Next thing I knew, she had another one for me.  Magic.  I still have both of them, in fact I can reach out and touch them right now.

Another time we drove down to the border of Texas and Mexico to pilgrimage to a shrine that held a deep and special place in her heart.  Hours of conversation that I won't forget.  Killing about a million monarch butterflies accidentally.  Asking for aqua and getting limonada.  Border guards.  Holy water.

She's the kind of friend that you can go weeks or even months without talking to and then once you start again, it's like nothing has changed.  Her home is always open to me and mine is always open to her.  She's one of my sister-friends that will never ever leave my heart.  Kindred.  My own little free-spirited love bug buddy.


And there's something else you should know about her.  She's incredibly determined and smart.  She's the first in her ENTIRE family to graduate college.  She wanted something so she did it.  That's my friend.  That's my Anahi.

Dearest Anahi, if  you're reading this, I want you to know how much I love you.

My Sparkle Speck Friend

When I first moved to this panhandle area two and a half years ago or so, I was so alone.  I felt lost and scared and empty.  I prayed every night for God to send me a friend, someone that would at least talk to me sometimes and that maybe one day would be a little diamond in my life, a soul sister like the ones I had left behind.  After six months of eating in my car alone, sitting on the outside of conversations, and crying at home in my lonely room, God answered my prayer with Meg.  Meggie Boo Boo.  My Meggie.  She's one of the funniest people ever invented.  She knows when I'm sad and knows how to cheer me up. She's a kick booty social worker and a fan-freakin-tastic cook.  But now she's moving away to greener pastures and her family of darlings ten hours away.  It's sad.  So sad.  But I know our friendship will never end.  We just aren't made that way.  Ten hours is nothing to our little souls.  Ten hours is do-able.  Forever my soul sister, no matter the distance!

To soften the blow and to send my meggie off in style, I wanted to have a dinner for her on the last full moon before she left.  Why a full moon dinner? Because I am a hippie at heart and I love food.  Good luck meggie boo bear!  You're a shining star off to fill the worlds of Houston with your own particular special light.

It's time to say goodbye, but I think goodbyes are sad and I'd much rather say hello. Hello to a new adventure.
Ernie Harwell 

4th of July

I had an amazing Independence Day!  I had to work on the 3rd, so after work I drove to my parent's house 3 hours away and stayed two nights.  I worked the night of the 5th, so I slept what I could during that day after I got home.

It was truly relaxing!  Marmie and Daddy have just moved so it was fun to help them set up their house a little.  Then my friend Cindy came and we celebrated together.  There were small town fireworks and an impromptu trip to the lake.  Fun!  I was sad to leave.

Patriotic Pizza

Selfie! 

I think my dad looks like a wizard here. 

Marmie <3

Pepper's belly rub of joy

And The Dead Came Round To Listen

I'm trying to get used to staying up late for work and sleeping all day. Tonight is the third night in a row that there has been a big windy thunderstorm roll into the little town that I live in and I have to admit, it has me feeling quite superstitious. Just now, for example, I can hear tree branches blowing and scratching on my metal porch roof.  Very spooky.

Some of the dinner on my tiny table

 Two nights ago I had a little dinner with a few friends and it was super fun. I made herbed chicken with lemon balm, rosemary, sage, lavender, garlic, dill, onion powder, cracked black pepper, and a little lemon juice. I also made chicken that I pounded out very thing and just marinated in Italian dressing. I marinated baby mushrooms in wine and put them on skewers with onions and the herbed chicken. Then I also made Texas toast, fruit salad, and Mexican street corn. Grilling out makes food taste amazing and it so much easier to do in the summer, despite my trying to light the grill with vicks vapor rub in place of lighter fluid. I hate turning on my oven and heating up the house. My friend brought potatoes for a side and I made very sweet tea. The only way I like tea is if it is medicinal and hot or very sweet and iced. I had so many people at my house that I ran out of chairs! After dinner we sat on the front porch and talked until the bugs became too bothersome in the dark. Then we watched the basketball game that was on. It got pretty loud and crazy, but I for sure and certain did not mind. It gets pretty lonely around here. Part of my favorite section of the night was painting with my friend's little 8 year old daughter, despite getting green and purple paint on my face. She even painted me a picture that I hung on my fridge!

It says, "I love Katie"

I have to work the next two nights, which is awesome because I'll get weekend pay as well as night shift pay.  Hopefully I can sustain this odd schedule!