Chores

Every weekend, I spend part of the morning tidy up the house - doing dishes and laundry, sorting mails. Usually that's all I got to do (if I'm lucky) before I got totally bored and had to get out of the house for some fresh air. I often think to myself: thank God for dish washers, washing machines and dryers. I can't imagine living without these appliances.

On an interview with Jimmy Fallon last week, Bill and Melinda Gates were being asked: "If you have a super power, what would it be?" I really like Melinda's answer. She said: "That would be time." Then she explained, women world wide spend 4 to 6 hours everyday to take care of the household chores and their family in addition to their normal full time job. She wished there was a way to give back that time to women.

To me, that's so true. Household chores are endless. I admit I'm not a good house maker in any stretch of the imagination, but I was brought up learning all the right things to be one. I wish to be better at it, but there is simply not enough time, and it is quite boring. So my house is always a working progress, and I'm not apologetic about it, because sometimes I prefer to blog, do yoga, read some books or simply relax!

Road Trip! Let's all go!

A road trip is always a good idea, even in the winter. I don't do this a lot, but whenever I take road trips, I see so many new things and my imagination just goes wild and I love it. It makes me appreciate life and nature so much! Of course the best thing is when I'm the passenger, not the driver.

Our 2015 Christmas road trip to Colorado was an eye opener to me in many different ways. It was my first cross country road trip in the winter. From Half Moon Bay, we took the northern route into Reno, Nevada, then I-80 E through Utah, Wyoming, then headed south into Colorado.

It was the first time I experienced such cold temperature for such a long time - one week! I mean, this is the real deal. Growing up in the southern city of Guangzhou, China, then in San Francisco, I am used to warm and mild temperatures all my life, so being in 0 degrees and below and around snow for such a long time was kind of a shock to me. I remember stopping at a freeway rest stop around Wyoming - in the middle of nowhere, I might add - the wind chill must have been -14 or so, and I was so cold even when I was all bundled up! Then, I get to appreciate the true values of good winter hat, gloves, boots and scarves. I was amazed that some men and women were walking around with t-shirts and light clothing. What, are they made of steel or something?


We took the dogs across country just so we have some family time, but it didn't take long for us to realize the dogs didn't really like it. They didn't like to be sitting at the back of an SUV for such a long time, and only having a few times out of the car to do their business. Also, the water they drank was frozen half of the time! They did enjoy spending time with us at night in the hotel room though. I remember the first night, Jake (our male golden) didn't really know what to make of it, and he got so excited. He was moving around the room a lot, and coming to lick us. As to us, it was really a chore to have to put all the warm cloths on before taking the dogs out of the hotel room for them to do their business. I mean, at home, all we need is to get out of the door with our pajamas and at most a robe, since the temperature is mild and we have a lot of privacy! Since we drove two and a half days one way to our destination, making sure we had enough water for the dogs for the long drive was important, but it wasn't impossible. It was the first time for Jake to be in snow, and he was SO cute in it!

From the yuppy filled western coastal town to the heartland of the America, it really put the phrases like "open space" and "middle of nowhere" into perspective for me. I mean, we would drive hundreds of miles on I-80 without seeing any town along the way! All we saw was flat land with buttes and plateaus here and there, and some wind farms. It was exciting to pass the state lines, continental divides and the Bonneville Salt Flats!

I had technologies such as my iPhone and iPad, and various travel apps at my fingertip, but a good old atlas took us a long way! I was so happy to have learned how to read the map! I could figure out where the mountain passes were, which we could encountered heavy storms, especially around Reno area. Using iPhone map app, I should be able to find out where the next rest area was, but it really could not accurately show the needed information, because most of the rest stops were not on the map! We just had to have faith to trust that there was always some kind of rest stop every 50-100 miles or so, and you better get whatever you need when you got to one!

I developed a great respect for truck drivers. Driving for 8 to 10 hours a day a few days in a row is tiring! At the end of the day, my body got so stiff! We observed that some trucks have this small cabin attached at the back of the cockpit or above it, where drivers can sleep in. Can you imagine this kind of life where you are driving on the road so much for a living? To me, truck drivers are the modern day nomads!

The conclusion? Maybe we should try taking the train and leave the dogs home.