Palm Springs

My friend Tammy moved down to Palm Springs last year. I finally took a long weekend and went down to visit her!

She and her husband have a lovely home in a gated community. They get to sit out on their back deck and watch the golfers play their 18 holes all day long. Sometimes they even get to see the Big Horned Sheep come down from the mountains but that did not happen while I was there.

I only had three days, but Tammy packed those days with some really fun tours, while still giving plenty of down time to just sit and relax.

Our first tour was certainly a unique one. Drag & Fly Tours took us around Palm Springs in a “mobile theatre” that seats up to 13 guests, hosted by a fabulous drag queen named Danica. We learned about Palm Springs’ rich history with comedy, live narration, and dazzling video moments. It was definitely a fun way to get introduced to the city.

After the tour ended, we walked around downtown a bit. I got to see Marilyn Monroe even! This 26-foot-tall sculpture, created by artist Seward Johnson, depicts Marilyn Monroe in her famous pose from the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch. Interestingly, city ordinance limits residential homes to no more than one story, so this statue stands taller than pretty much every building around her!

Our second tour the next day was also an architectural tour but was quite a bit less flamboyant and more reserved. The Modern Tour gave us another view of the architecture of Palm Springs, even taking us inside a few of the homes along the way.

For our third tour we had to travel out of town where we got a guided golf cart tour of a private wind farm. The tour guide talked about the successes and failures at the beginning of the “Wind Rush” in the 80’s to the modern sleek designs we have today. It was really interesting, and our guide was very knowledgeable. It’s always fun to have a guide who is so excited about his subject matter.

 

Painting Party with Anne

You all know I love an art project – so I was so happy when my friend Anne invited me to join her at a painting party in Anchorage. Anne’s two sons would have joined us, but they were visiting their father. So it was just the two of us – along with several other moms and their children.

This was a guided thing, where the teacher taught us how to paint a Chicken! The teacher did a great job of making sure the littles were all happy and did not get too far off track.

It always amazes me how different the results always are. We all get the same instructions, and yet we all have our own interpretations of those instructions. None of us are wrong – we’re all just our own unique individuals. And that’s okay!

My chicken was pretty basic, with a few mixed colors but not much detail.

Anne’s chicken was a lot more intricate with a lot of mixing and detail.

Date Night

Bryan’s father gave us a gift certificate to the Chop House for Christmas this year – so we decided it was time to use it. It’s been a very stressful year so far, and both of us needed a special Date Night out.

The Chop House is located out on Lake Lucile, on the far side of Wasilla. It’s a beautiful restaurant with a gorgeous view. While we ate, we got to watch several people out ice fishing on the lake.

For our appetizer, Bryan ordered the Fried Calamari. Then we shared the Winter Beet Salad; with beets, carrots, cucumbers, blueberries, pumpkin seeds, and a spring mix tossed in a tasty vinaigrette.

For dinner Bryan ordered the Alaskan Scallops & Shrimp, served on a bed of linguini – which he said was absolutely scrumptious. I had the Chicken Grand Mere, a chicken thigh served with onions, mushrooms, sundried figs, and green olives. It was not very good: the chicken was dry and the olives overpowered everything else so that’s pretty much all I tasted. I would not order that again.

Desert was a slice of their house-made Peanut Butter Pie. I thought it was quite tasty, but he thought it was not peanut buttery enough. And I must say, their presentation of the dish was excellent.

Well, That Sucks

I got laid off.

It came as a shock. I worked for that company for 12 years, but all the sudden I don’t “fit in with their version of the company”. They paid out all my PTO and gave me a decent severance check, at least, and I got to keep my insurance for 2 months.

Honestly, though, I should have known. The Architect I’ve worked with the whole time I’ve been there retired and no one else quite knew what to do with me. I thought about retiring with him, but I guess that decision has been made for me.

The first thing I did was roll my 401k over to my own personal investment account. My stockbroker at D.A.Davidson helped me with that, to ensure that I won’t have any tax issues with the transfer. It does take time, however. The check has to be mailed to me, and then I have to mail it to my stockbroker. Currently I’m waiting for the check to arrive in my mailbox.

The second thing I did was begin the process of signing up for unemployment. This is more difficult than I remember it being. I went to their website. I followed all their instructions. I did everything they told me to do. And yet, when I got to the very end of their long and arduous process – I’m still not signed up for unemployment. I’m not sure what I did wrong. That is today’s tasks: try to figure that out.

While I was dealing with my 401k and unemployment, Bryan worked with his company to get me put on to his insurance. Thankfully, they allow for a Domestic Partner! That’s a major item taken off my “things to worry about” list!

I am kicking around a few ideas to help supplement my considerably lower income:

• I signed up to be a Cat Sitter on Rover.com (I even got my first gig already!)
• I signed up on DoorDash to deliver lunches (I can’t drive at night) and have plans to sign up with UberEats as well
• I am in the process of applying to the Musk Ox Farm to be a part-time Interpretive Guide, and am considering the Reindeer Farm as well
• I might get my own business license to enable me to do some Contract Drafting work

It will be hard to find a job that fits into the schedule to which I have become accustomed: working from home and getting every Friday off. But I’ll be okay. One way or another, it will all work out.