The perks of small town living

I heard a knock at my door tonight. It was my neighbour Archie. His oldest son and girlfriend are making homemade salsa to sell to help raise money for something college related. I know his son is going to college this year in California. I love this town, despite the bugs. I love hearing a knock at the door and knowing its a neighbour. And I love knowing I can knock on their door any time. And...I love how my neighbour pronounces 'cilantro' with his Spanish accent and a roll of the tongue..."see-lawn-tro". Back to the point, yep, I'm buying a few 'quarts' of hot salsa...$6.00 a quart and homemade. It'll be ready on Friday. On another small town note...I often think of sista G...the farmer's markets are starting and there's a big push here to support local growers and to know your farmers, and your food. She would love this...along with the sustainability meetings. I was at the laundry place this weekend reading all about these events in the Aztec Talon (the town rag) and thinking of her.

Ten thousand bugs in my HOUSE

Aaaaaaaagh!!!! I am losing what little tolerance I had for finding and dealing with bugs IN my 'house'. This little closet I'm living in is frustrating enough and I was really trying to keep an open mind about it. But...since day one I have been finding bugs and I am getting creeped out more and more every time I find one. Mucho spiders and as long as they're not black widows, I have been semi-OK with them...although not great. Then it was the 2 big and black cockroaches, then the brown one...all which I seemed to find in the middle of the night and then couldn't get back to sleep due to the eerie visions I had of spraying them with raid and watching them jump and flinch and die...then the clean up...then wondering if there were more that would crawl on me as I slept. I'm getting the 'willies' just talking about this but I have to let it out. Last night I found what I think was an earwig, it was a long centipede looking thing with 'pinchers' on its back end...I discovered it crawling and writhing around on my bathroom sink and hiding under a toothpaste squeezer...GROSS. I left it. I walked away. I am out of coping skills. I got in late tonight and it was dark as I tried to unlock the front door, at times the security light would go on but it lasts for mere seconds...I couldn't seem to get the door open and felt moths hitting me and dropping onto me and I was jumping and screaming as they did. Moths. I have sunk to this level, scared of moths...this is what I mean, I have NO tolerance left. The bugs have worn me down, they have won. I feel like things are crawling on me all the time, I feel creepy crawlies on my head, my legs and I'm always rubbing or brishing these invisible bugs off of myself...I know, you're thinking 'psych ward'. Oh yeah, I am almost there people. Monday. I'm calling a property rental company and starting a dedicated search for a bigger, CLEANER, and bug free home to rent. Oh my god, I think there is something crawling on me, I'm not kidding.

America and Wal-Mart

Whoa. Stopped by Wal-Mart to grab a digital voice recorder on the cheap and a few office supplies...Friday night...the place was a ZOO. I think the whole town goes straight to Wal-Mart once the work whistle blows on Friday. I'll stick with my small town of 1500 or so people thank you very much. As I drove home, what a difference. Main street out here on a Friday night was calm and quiet! Note to self...no more trips to Wal-Mart, let alone on a Friday night.

Tamaya

Oh. My. God. This place is...there are no words. I can't believe I haven't been there until now. I figured it was your typical Hyatt resort, duh, we're in NM Trace...I should have known better. The drive in is gorgeous, the hotel and scenery beautiful, the paths through the bosque, the pools, the spa...definately going back for a weekend stay and some sort of massage treatment. Wow. If ever in Albuquerque, don't miss this place, even if you just go and grab a coffee and walk along the paths. I am reminded of why I love it here so much. Not that I need much reminding though.

My 30 day raw challenge

The traveling set me a little off course from my raw diet...who can resist junk food on a road trip? Certainly NOT me. Tough to get back on track after the Hershey bars, DQ blizzards, pizza...and I HAD to have that Indian fry bread...mmm mmm MMM!

OK, I make it sound like that was ALL I was eating, not true. But I managed to sneak the junk in with the good. So, to get back on track I decided to do 30 days raw. I'm already on day 9 and going strong. I haven't been lured by temptation yet, except for a sopaipilla. Those are like crack to me! I'm feeling good and I have a countdown calendar on my whiteboard, I check off each day I've been raw for motivation and to see my stellar progress : ) Go Tracey, go Tracey!

I'm getting more creative at the green smoothie thing and even made up my own recipe, which I might add, has been a hit with other non raw people around me who think it looks like sludge. Here's the recipe in case you want to try it yourself:

Tracey's Green-a-liscious smoothie

1 red apple (cut into big chunks)
1 good chunk of cantaloupe
3 strawberries
2-3 leaves of Kale (no stem, it doesn't blend well)
fist full of romaine
water (fill to about 1/4 BELOW the top of the food)

Blend blend blend and happy drinking!

"Let food be thy medicine" -Hippocrates

A snapshot from the road

Meet Officer Matt. Someone tried to steal the UHaul trailer sometime in the wee hours while I was soundly sleeping in a hotel in Salt Lake City. Woke up, grabbed a coffee, and headed to the car. That's when I noticed all the chains and electrical cords undone. Thankfully, being me, I packed that trailer to the 'tits' and it was too heavy for the guys to lift off my hitch! I alerted the hotel manager just so he was aware and found out that another UHaul HAD been stolen that night, a down and out looking woman and her daughter moving everything they own to California. They're life was in that trailer and my heart really went out to them. I almost wish the thieves would have taken my trailer and not theirs. Had to file a report with the North Salt Lake Police...then back on the road.

New Mexico

Not really in the mood to write tonight but managed to change my main blog picture...this is Wilson's Arch somewhere along the road in Moab, Utah. The road trip was freeing and fun. I'm glad for the extra day of travels taken which was spent in Yellowstone, beautiful there and deserving of a future camping trip in the Boler. Must plan. I am feeling disoriented on the road of life right now and unfortunately don't feel in the mood to chit chat these days. But here's a quick note to say I made it to NM and here's hoping for some direction and spark back into life...any time now would be nice.