Sigh......

The other day, while driving to down I-5 through Seattle, I saw a good number of rigs, presumably heading south for the winter. Was I jealous or was I envious?  Accordingly to Wikipedia, and I quote:

"Envy" and "jealousy" are often used interchangeably in common usage, but the words stand for two distinct emotions.^[1] Jealousy is the result or fear of losing someone or something that one is attached to or possesses to another person (the transfer of a lover's affections in the typical form), while envy is the resentment caused by another person having something that one does not have, but desires for oneself.

It appears that I am envious....but not really.  I don't feel resentment towards those of you that are already headed out.  But dang, I wish I was one of you.

The repair work on the trailer continues.  I stay out of it, and I'm doing my best not to nag.  In fact, I have agreed not to nag/panic until January 31st.  God help me! As it is,  I am starting to get tired of whining about the situation anyway, and have been looking for other outlets to occupy my time.

First up, get the doctor appointments out of the way.  Whoopie!  I thought I may be looking at bunion surgery, and if so, we wouldn't be able to leave for 8 weeks anyway.  Might as well get that over with.  Then perhaps I can resume walking, and maybe even take up easy hikes.  I read so many blogs and see so many gorgeous photos that people take on hikes - I want to see those scenes too. A swollen, throbbing foot has kept me from doing things like this in the past (not to mention that I am totally out of shape), but if I take care of the bunion, maybe I will be able to do some of those things.  However, it turned out that it was going to end up being reconstructive surgery.  Apparently, my proximal phalanx has started to slide off the first metatarsal, which would require realignment of the big toe, complete with metal plate and screws.  That part I could handle.  Also, there was the 6-8 weeks in a cast, putting no pressure on the foot at, using crutches, a walker and/or a scooter.  Even that I could handle.  The part that made me say, "Maybe later," was no showering for 6-8 weeks.  Well, one could shower, if you had a hand held shower head and a shower stall big enough to hold a shower chair and a 5 gallon bucket on which to prop the casted foot.  The only shower in our house that could possibly accommodate that is downstairs, and I would not be able to go down the stairs (or rather I could go down, but I could not go back up).  I just could not do sponge baths and sink shampoos for 6 weeks and be a happy camper.  Plus, I would be looking at 4-6 weeks of physical therapy afterward.  Nope, it ain't gonna work.  Although I do have to say, I will now be more open to a full sized shower if and when we buy a new 5th wheel.  The salesmen always look at me funny when I'm not impressed with full sized showers in a rig.  I'm 5'3" and my husband is 5'6" - we aren't that big - and I'd rather have more cupboard space than a tub sized shower......At least that was what I thought until I heard about what is involved in the recovery process of this bunion surgery.  I guess Aleve and I will be good friends for the next few years.  The pain is really only higher than a 5 out of 10 when the barometer sudden drops or when I've been on my feet for a long time.

The eye doctor appointment revealed that I am still seeing 20/20 or better, two years post-cataract surgery.  I'm so glad I had it done.

In the meantime, I've wanted to take up painting.  I started with watercolors and wasn't happy, so I switched to acrylics.  I've made some progress.  I have never painted before.  And I doubt anyone would call me artistically inclined, but I'm watching You Tube videos and I've done a few pieces that make me smile.

Do you paint?  Do you have any You Tube videos or other sources you would recommend.  I'm obviously a beginner and would welcome any guidance.  Maybe I'll try painting some scenes reminiscent of Arizona, Nevada and Southern Utah.  I'd like to give up the envy and be happy right where I am.

Let's Go Check Out Escondido

But I didn't mean the industrial section.  Unfortunately, that was all we found.  I'm sure there is more to the city because I've had people tell me that they really like Escondido.  I'm thinking they were somewhere I wasn't.

We headed out with the intention of finding a grocery store and a place for me to get a pedicure.  The idea was that Kim would drop me off at the nail salon and then he would go to the grocery store.  We turned left out of the Champagne Lakes RV Park, and headed south on Old Hwy 395.  We kept going and going and going.  It got more industrial and more industrial.  My bright idea was to try on the other side of I-15.  We found more industrial parks with an occasional fast food food joint.  As time passed by, having pretty toenails became less of a priority.  My stomach was growling and water alone wasn't cutting it.  Let's just go back and have lunch at "home" and then go over to the Farmer's Market at the Welk Resort.

Just as we found a sign to I-15, Kim spotted a landmark he recognized.  Apparently, we had looped around through Escondido's industrial section and wound up in San Marcos - near Camping World.  I thought "Good, we know where we are and we can be back in the trailer, having lunch, in about 15 minutes."  Then Kim turned west instead of east.  I forget that his hearing is not so good anymore, and apparently my stomach was not growling loud enough for him to hear.  We had one of those husband-wife discussions.  You know the ones that start with "Why did you do THAT?"  I get a little cranky when I'm hungry.  Just as he was getting ready to turn around and head back to the RV Park, I spotted a Denny's.  Somewhere I had a coupon for BOGOF....not with me of course, but I had one which made stopping there appealing.  Low and behold, what was next door?  A nail salon!  

Time out here for a little observation on the differences in communities.  Where we live, there is a nail salon in every strip mall for as far as our truck can drive on a tank of fuel.  Not so much here in Southern California, at least where we have been recently.  It was similar to when we moved to Mobile, Alabama in the early 1990s.  We're from the Seattle area and it didn't occur to us that there would not be a Starbucks or some drive-through espresso stand on every corner.  But I digress....

The Denny's was not real busy.  I guess 2pm is after the lunch crowd and that explains why my stomach was growling.  We had a great experience at this Denny's on San Marcos Blvd, less than a mile west of Camping World.  The waitress steered me toward the Roast Beef Cobb Salad, and it was absolutely wonderful.  I may have to find another Denny's somewhere along the way to have this dish again!

Kim had second breakfast - french toast, poached eggs, sausage and bacon.

With my tummy now happy, I went next door to the nail salon.  I didn't write down the name of the salon or the sweet young girl that did my pedicure.  I was reading some entertainment magazine and she kept saying "Excuse me" every time she wanted to ask me if I wanted this or that service.  I believe she was Vietnamese, and their voices are so soft, I could barely hear her.  One time, I swear she asked me if I wanted my heels dyed.  After I asked her to repeat herself 3 times, and I still didn't understand, I just said, "No thank you".  Do my heels look like they needed to be dyed?  Do people actually do that?  Who checks out someone else's heels?

She did a very nice job on my toenails......although I maybe didn't need such a close up shot of them and my huge bunion.

We have a long term relationship, Mr Bunion and I.  I keep thinking I'm going to have bunion surgery, but I've heard mixed reviews from people about whether they are glad they had it or not.  I'd love to hear your opinion, if you have had the surgery.  My bunion is not particularly painful, but finding shoes that don't hurt is a challenge.  My current choices are generally flip-flops, crocs, or sneakers.

Now that I had my pedicure out of the way, we headed back toward the park.  About 2 miles down the road is the Welk Resort.  I believe this is a vacation time-share type place.  It looked really nice from the outside.  I wasn't interested in a tour.  The golf course looked pleasant, but all I can judge by is how the greens look, because I don't play golf, so I wouldn't have a clue.  We stopped here for the Monday Farmer's Market.  There were only 4 or 5 fruit and veggie booths.  The rest were open air market sales.  Some cool stuff.  Kim and I each bought a hat (in preparation for our day at the Safari Park).  Here are a few shots that turned out.  It was pretty bright out and I couldn't see the screen well enough to tell what I was shooting.

I thought the little yard do-dads were cute.  It is hard to tell but they are all basically beetles,  playing.  Other than our new hats, we didn't find anything we couldn't live without.  I think I will go back next Monday for some strawberries - they looked and smelled really good.  I didn't buy any because we had some in the refrigerator.....had being the operative word.  Dessert last night?  Strawberry shortcake!