When I first knew there was a potential of a move, I knew I would have to blog about it. I had a blog name in mind almost instantly. What I would do with it, I wasn't sure. I mostly wanted to use it to post about the differences, about the changes, share observations, maybe post about the house and any renovations we were working on. But mostly....just observations. At least that was the plan.
But forcing me to sit at a desk and do just that is a lot harder than one might think. In all honesty, some of my former posts weren't even posted on those dates...rather, they happened on those dates. And once I even let people know I had a blog, five months after the fact, it sort of almost lost its luster. So it seemed. I think it's mostly just us enjoying our holidays though. Or me being distracted by something shiny, or something moving. I'm part cat, I fear.
So, while I figure out exactly what kind of blog I want this to be, I'm going to share some observations and anecdotes I have yet to share in this forum. Before 2013 is over.
Unlike in our city in Kansas, we have curbside recycling here. It alternates weekly. One week, it's green waste- lawn waste, branches, etc. The next week, it's all normal recycling. And unlike in Kansas, they recycle almost everything. All plastics (not just ones and twos), paper, magazines, cardboard, and my favorite...Styrofoam!!! I DESPISE Styrofoam. I complained about it often in Kansas, but the fact they actually recycle it here makes me dance a little jig. I've been recycling for a decade, but to finally be able to just set it at the curb rather than load my car and drive it to a facility and then sort it myself....oh my goodness. That alone was worth the move. And yet with that typed, not even half our street recycles. And it's part of your trash fee. There isn't any excuse. And yet....they aren't recycling. Just as I get excited, I also get further disappointed in mankind. You can make it easier for people, but you can't make people recycle. A lot like leading horses to water...
Going along with recycling, here in California you pay a CRV fee. It stands for California Redemption Value and although some people are already familiar with this concept, I'll refresh your memory. We dealt with this during our San Diego trip of 2010. You pay 10 cents or 5 cents extra at the store on certain bottles and cans. On a case of water, you pay that per bottle. Same with cans. It adds up. Quickly. If you actually save your bottles and cans and take them to a redemption center, you get those fees back. If you put them in your recycling bin, the sanitation department earns the money. If you throw those away...well, that's just silly. When we first moved here, the neighbors that briefly lived next door to us told me all about the CRV, in case I didn't know. They also let me know if we didn't want to turn ours in, they would take them. Around here, you will see lots of looters searching for cans in the recycling bins on a Thursday morning. You also see this in the parks, the streets, etc. The money does add up. I've only turned ours in once, and then put the money into The Redhead's jog-a-thon fundraising money at her school. I do save our cans and bottles, but we don't accrue a lot.
The 99 Cent Store has become one of my favorite places to shop. I'm not a proud person. I'll flat out admit to you I shop at the Dollar Tree. I score some awesome items there. I re-purpose a lot of various things from that store. The 99 Cent Store is quite similar, just a penny cheaper, but I've found that their holiday merchandise is even better. In fact, just last night, I found Webkinz there. I thought I was losing it, so I texted a photo to my husband's phone to make sure I was indeed seeing them. I decided that The Redhead's teacher needed some in her prize box. I've found a lot of fabulous finds, but every time we're in that store, no matter what we're buying, we think back to the first time we went to the store. Part of the store is dedicated to groceries, and the overhead speaker kept mentioning their cheap prices and if you're tight on money, it's the place to shop and you should check out their fresh produce items. Now this was hilarious, because as we heard this, we were standing next to a stack of rotting bananas. And they smelled horrid. Of course, I had to say something out loud after hearing their announcement for the third time. We never forget this experience, and The Redhead likes to bring it up A LOT. So no matter what we find, and how cheap it is, we think back to the fresh produce. The first time we went, I said we probably wouldn't go again, but I'm glad I gave it a second chance in September. It doesn't hurt that we have one right around the corner either. Yeah folks, we're living high class.
Something I've only seen here is that parking lots have compact parking places. Until moving here, I'd never seen such a thing. But they have parking spaces set up for small cars, which is all we own. It's kind of awesome having our own parking spots. Of course, that doesn't stop huge trucks and commercial vans from parking there, two feet past the end of the parking spot. I always want to take a photo, and once I almost did, but then I saw someone coming, and then they got into that vehicle. And well, I've been too much of a chicken ever since.
Another funny thing about parking in California is that people don't seek the parking spots up close necessarily, all the first spots that are taken are in the shade. Brilliant, actually. It's not as prevalent now, but when it's warmer....oh yeah.
One day while leaving The Redhead's school, I heard my first Valley Girl since living in this state. I'm serious. Complete with "like Ohmagawd," and "totally," and everything else one would expect. I burst out laughing, and then quickly pretended I was reading a text on my phone, as the person had turned around seeing what the commotion was. Yeah, I pretended to be on my phone. But it was awesome. So then I texted my friend A for real to tell her all about the real life Valley Girl.
Then sometime in September, I met someone. We were speaking, getting to know one another, as that's not something I'm all that great at. In fact, I'm perfectly fine being a hermit. But I was speaking to this mom and while I was speaking to her, she let me know a bit of geography, like we didn't move that far. After all, she moved from the east coast over a decade prior. She repeated the distance several times in the conversation, in case I didn't have access to a map, or know where places were. She also let me know my child wasn't as smart as hers (she has yet to meet her) and that I shouldn't expect her to get into the rapid learner program. There were a lot of things she made sure I knew, and one thing I learned after the conversation with her is this- I don't need to be friends with everyone. And we didn't need to speak again. I had these types of people in my life in Kansas, constantly talking down to me one minute then asking me for favors the next, and I let it continue because I didn't know how to end it. But I don't have to put up with it now. This was my chance to start anew. And while she may be a lovely person, she wasn't the person for me. I think we both felt the same of one another. And that's quite okay.
Moving here has given me a second chance at a lot of things. I can take a pause before jumping into everything. There aren't any expectations of me here. As I have still been unpacking and settling in, it's given me a chance to get organized again or even organize myself in ways I always wished for. Even simple things. Like those little pink Box Top labels and Campbell Soup labels. Instead of a drawer or container full that I rarely had time to get to, I keep sheets on the refrigerator and I cut them out and tape them on as soon as I come across them. When a sheet is full, I send them to school right away. I helped with the program in Kansas, so The Redhead wasn't included in the contests I promoted, but I would make these collection sheets, and I made new ones for here as well. I just use them differently. And that's merely an example. I have a list of so many more methods to put into place as well, and maybe eventually, we'll get to them. And if you want a moment of honesty, yeah, we still have a garage of stuff left to unpack. But go mind your own business, will you?
While driving, I've noticed a lot more merge lanes. Lanes will just disappear. Vanish. Abandon you. But other drivers are a lot more courteous and will let you in. You are also expected to let them in. Drivers don't appear to be any worse than in The Midwest though. In fact, I think some of them are better. Motorcyclists are much more common though and they are FAST. They weave through lanes and you do have to watch for them. I've never seen so many motorcycles, electric scooters, mopeds, and skateboards in my entire life. I've been told it's worse in San Francisco. I'll take their word for it.
Just like in The Midwest, people seem unhappy and unsettled at times. A lot of people seem to be happy living in California, especially the ones who moved here from elsewhere. But some have never been anywhere else, just like some people in The Midwest, and they're the ones who will tell you just how lucky you are because they've never been anywhere else. I think an adventure is always good for the soul. You have to feed that curiosity. But you also need to be content with your roots and where you are.
When we first got here in July, the most noticeable thing for my lungs and I was the lack of humidity. It's so dry here! The Midwest in July is so humid and nasty. And that was hilarious because I heard from so many strangers how this past summer was the most humid in a long while and they couldn't stand it. They couldn't consider a climate that was more humid. Apparently this past summer was one of their hotter ones, but without the humidity, I still thought it was quite lovely. We barely had the air on. We wouldn't turn it on until mid to late afternoon and then we'd have the windows open again come nighttime. It was perfection. Winter has also been nice. We have had colder temperatures this year than they usually have (go figure) but less rain than is typical for winter, as this should usually be their rainy season, and we haven't seen many rainy days at all.
Grocery prices are higher. Gas is higher, which I expected. I expected everything to be higher here, actually. And a lot of people ask me about that, and yes, prices are higher. But I can live with it.
The one thing Mister Man and joke about the most is California Time. Californians seem to do things a lot differently here than anywhere else we've been. They do their best to live up to the stereotypes. They're not early risers. Everyone is usually out in the afternoons. If you want to get anywhere and beat the traffic, 10 is actually early enough. 8 or 9 on a weekend? Few people will be out. And we haven't met a lot of planners. Not that I knew a lot of planners to begin with, but I've met a lot less here.
As expected for any city, there are a lot of homeless people here. But in comparison to Kansas City, there are even more. A lot of that has to do with milder temperatures. There are lot even in the suburbs. Sometimes it's uncomfortable, and of course saddening, but it's life. And it's something you can't help but notice.
After years of longing for an Ikea, it didn't take us long to be over it. It was one of our first stops after moving here. We even went there our first day arriving here, on the Fourth of July. Yeah, we headed to Ikea on the Fourth of July. We also saw a movie that day and a huge grass fire because no matter how dry it is, people still are allowed to set off fireworks. Kind of scary to witness my first night, actually. Regardless though, I rarely even think, "Gosh, I have to get to Ikea." Which is kind of sad....but it also gets me to the next thing.
After spending years of driving thirty minutes to an hour to get to anywhere, I now find myself as one of those people who doesn't even want to drive more than twenty minutes to get somewhere. If a place is thirty minutes away with traffic, forget about it. I drove on the highway to everywhere in Kansas. And now? I refuse to get on the highways. I avoid them at all costs. I've become a lazy driver. I never wanted to be a lazy driver, but it didn't take me long to adjust to that lifestyle.
As thrilling as curbside pickup has been, another exciting convenience is the amount of charities that send me cards with little bags so I'll collect my unwanted items and set them at my curb on scheduled days. Then they come by and pick them up for me. This is the coolest concept!!!! I ran a Freecycle group in Kansas, I still own and run it actually, but I don't even need to turn to that method. Instead I just collect items and set my stuff out on the certain day and just like clockwork they PICK IT UP. They even leave me a donation receipt! I wish I'd had this service in The Midwest, because this is awesome. I have no excuse to have a bunch of junk sitting around, which is good, because we don't have near the storage we had in Kansas. Not even half, especially since we don't have a basement.
People in California seem more content with less space. At least the ones I have met do. In The Midwest, that was always the biggest complaint. I knew a lot of people who would claim they could never be happy with anything less than 2,500-3,500 square feet. Out of the people I have met, 1,500 is pretty good. One of the people I met with over 2,000, she says it's way more than they need. People seem to have less stuff here too, at least in their homes. They still have a lot of toys though. Pools, campers, vehicles, boats, etc.
One of the things that killed me was a lack of AMC Movie Theaters. I was heartbroken, but I still see my weekly movies, by myself, just as I have for years. I have missed some weeks recently, but I do okay. The movie costs are reasonable on Tuesdays. $5 and $6.25, depending on the location. Century Theaters, owned by Cinemark, have become my latest hangouts as they have the best choices in times, movies, ticket prices, and concession costs. They also offer coupons. We only had a couple Cinemarks in the KC area, but they are lot more common in this area. I still miss AMC, but Cinemark was a worthy rebound.
When moving here, I joked with people that I would fit in just fine here with the hipsters and hippies and their Toms' Shoes. They are a weakness of mine. I can't get enough of their canvas designs and their One for one system. One day while shopping for groceries, this little girl was forcing her mom to see my shoes, and pointed out that I had blue Toms' tags on my shoes too. The mom said, "well, yeah honey, she has Toms's shoes, but a lot of people do." It made me laugh because that wasn't always the case where I used to live.
I'm sure I've left out some stories and I wish I could claim I'll get better at sharing in the future, but I don't want to lie. Especially in print. But hopefully I'll figure out what exactly I want this blog to be, and what I want my life in California to be. Regardless though, I'm hoping for less changes in this next year. A milder adventure, perhaps.
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