Little Trip to Duluth, MN!!

On Tuesday my aunt asked me if I wanted to ride with her to Duluth, which is about a 3 hour drive, so she could drop of her daughter who was going to be staying with another aunt for a few days. So, after my brother got off work on Tuesday he drove me to my aunt's house. While we were driving, just out of Royalton, we noticed that there was definitely a storm going through. It looked like the worst of it was already passed, but damn was it dark! We got to my aunt's house and the sky was just sick looking. I got out of the car and he said he was gettin the hell out of there. So he booked it for home. Well, I walked into the house and my uncle asked me why car didn't come in, he can't be driving through a tornado warning!! Well, we were in the car, so we couldn't hear the sirens going off. He didn't make it home, he had to stop at my other aunt's (I have a lot of them...16 to be exact) house and take cover. We weren't going to be able to get on the road anytime soon. The satellite picture we saw on the inet showed that the storm covered the entire way to Duluth. It was a huge storm, it reached nearly from Sioux Falls, South Dakota up to Duluth, MN and Superior, WI. It was a big long diagonal line of reds and oranges and yellows. So, we waited out the storm, listened to the radio news. And finally the storm moved east and we were able to get on the road. So we got up to Duluth when it was dark out and drove over the hill into the city full of lights. It was very pretty. We pretty much went right to bed when we got up there. We woke up, went out for breakfast and then went down to the lake to enjoy a few hours before heading back home. I did bring my mom's camera so I have a few pictures. It was a nice day and I spent my time sitting in the rocks looking for beach glass, agates, and other treasures. It was nice to bake in the sun and I'm not too sad that I didn't go in the water, because it was freeeeezing! I got a nice collection of beach glass and now i just need to find a small clear jar so I can put it all in there and bring it to Chile, it can be a decoration. Maybe I will start to look for beach glass in Chile. It is actually kind of fun. Alright here are the pics :o)

Typical pic of the lift bridge.

yeah....

Another of the bridge, but farther down the shore.

If you look closely there's a boy/man on that big cement...thing. He was doing back flips off it.

Playing with the beach pebbles. :)

Me and the scenery.

Blood.

I have received postcards from the American Red Cross telling me about blood drive dates ever since the first time I tried to give blood when I was 17 years old. Key word there was tried. The first time I was able to give blood was my senior year and we had a blood drive right inside my high school. We could get out of class to go to the gym and give blood. It was kind of a big deal if you went to give blood, then you could show off your I GAVE BLOOD! sticker, had a reason to be lazy during class and a good excuse to say you were "sick" and needed to go take a nap in the nurses office. Well, the blood drive just so happened to fall during the swim season. My senior year I was the captain of the swim team at my high school and we were training for the Sections swim meet, but our coach gave us permission to give blood since it wasn't a meet day. So, I skipped class to go and give my blood so I could be cool. Well, unfortunately I didn't have high enough hemoglobin (iron) in my blood to donate. So I didn't. But, a few months later there was another blood drive in Holdingford and my BFF Madge went to the American Legion to give blood. That time, her iron was too low, but I was able to give blood. So I did. It took a whopping 4 minutes to take out whatever amount it is that they take out at a time. I guess my blood was happy to be on its way somewhere to save someone's life. I do remember when the nurse handed me my arm and told me to keep pressure on it while she went to check on the person in the bed next to me. She came back and was going to put the bandaid on and I was ready to go. Well, she pulled off the little gauze pad she gave me and apparently my blood didn't clot like she thought it would. It was grossest and coolest thing I have ever seen. My blood spurted up out of my arm like almost an inch. Hahaha at the time I just laughed at the nurses face, she strapped my arm up with some wrap thing to put pressure on it and off I went to the table for some juice and cookies. 10 minutes later I was across the street at the cafe getting ready for my shift at work. It was all good. Last July, when Rodrigo was up here with me, we both decided to give blood together. It took forever and ever but Ro was able to give blood here and is now registered with the American Red Cross. He has O- blood. I have O+ we are the same, but different :) Anyways. That day giving blood didn't quite go the way it did for me 3 years earlier. This time they said I could sit up because only the rookies needed to lay down. HA! About 3 minutes into it, I passed the fuck out! Within 10 seconds I would say I felt light headed and then bam! The next thing I remember is looking up into like 5 faces all saying my name over and over again and telling me to keep my eyes open for them over and over again. It probably took 5 minutes to get me out off lala land and then came the lady with a paper bag. She then shoved the bag over my face and pinched it to my nose. I swear she almost squeezed my nose ring right through and out the other side!! OUCH! That woke me up a little bit. So, there I was during the busiest time of the blood drive... in front of people I knew breathing in and out of a paper bag... and I would have to say I was struggling with that task. I felt like such a moron. Of course Ro hadn't even started yet because they were taking forever doing the paperwork, but he told me he stood up and peeked over the wall, the nurses wouldn't let him over by me because they were scared he would panic or something. In November when the Red Cross called to tell me of the upcoming blood drive at the high school, I didn't go. For one, I was scared of passing out and second I was working overnights and my job was a bit more heavy lifting then working at a cafe. So this year when they called, I said yes. Why? Because passing out didn't really do any damage to me after getting over the embarrassment nothing was physically wrong with me. So, today my mom and I went to give blood. I told the guy that I for sure wanted to lay down while giving blood because I passed out the last time. So, there I was laying there talking to the guy about my life, Chile, airports, my life... Pretty soon 4 minutes had gone by and I could tell I was almost done and he went about doing whatever it does when the bag is full. I think they take like 2 or 3 little vials of blood not sure what for but whatever. I was almost done and then I felt it. I could feel my face turning white I told the guy I felt a little light headed, he looked at me then shouted, "We have a rebreather here." Whatever that means... off I went to lala land and woke up again to 5 people standing over me telling me to open my eyes. There was a huge fan blowing cold air on me, an ice pack under my neck, and a cold wet towel on my head. And I didn't even care. At least this time the guy holding the brown paper bag was cute, and didn't squeeze my nose. It took a bit longer to get out of lala land, but I was finally up and walking over for some juice and caramel rolls. Oh I wish it ended there. I sat down was munching my caramel roll and was on my second cup of water after the cup of juice and I felt it again. Ushered back to a bed, I almost passed out AGAIN!! And I can't figure it out. I ate before I went, I drank water right before the 2 minute drive to the Legion, and I passed out anyways. The sight of blood does not bother me and the needle going into my arm does not bother me, so I think no matter what I do, I will probably pass out the next time I give blood. Maybe my body just doesn't like losing 450mL of blood in less than 5 minutes. I will continue to give blood even though I know I will probably pass out every time. And Ro will probably make fun of me every time too. He sent me a message saying you passed out twice this year?? You nerd. I wrote back, I didn't pass out twice I passed out 1 and a half times : P Well, off to bed because I think I'm going to Duluth tomorrow :o) Nighty night!!

2 weeks and the stats of us.

I will be back in my husband's arms with my dog Zoe in tow in exactly 2 weeks. Nothing stresses me out like flying with my dog, but at least this time the vet gave me some sleeping pills. For the dog of course, although I wouldn't mind some myself! I bought her a new bag to fly in because she chewed the last one to shit. I don't blame her though, she was only a puppy when I brought her here. I am happy to say that she does like the new one. Not a very good pic because I took it with my cellphone, but you can see that she is all snuggled up inside sleeping. :o)

I have decided to write down the stats of Ro and I because I finally see how ridiculous it is how much time we have spent apart especially during our marriage! But, the end of that is near, I hope. I am planning on trying not to visit the US for so long without Ro anymore...

January 8th 2007, I met Rodrigo.
January 21st, 2007, he asked me to be his girlfriend. I said yes!
March 28th, 2007, he left Montana and went back to Chile. I said goodbye to him at the airport not knowing if I would ever see him again.
July 10th, 2007, I landed in Santiago Chile, planning on staying for 3 months. At the time we didn't know I could jump the border to renew the 90 day tourist visa.
October 7th, I flew back to Minnesota to work and help Ro get a tourist visa to come to the US. He didn't get it. His dad bought me a plane ticket back to Chile.
January 15th, 2008, I landed back in Santiago, not knowing how long I was going to stay in Chile.
July 17th, 2008, I went back to the US, but only for a couple weeks. My shortest trip to Minnesota.
August 29th, I landed back in Chile and then, we were engaged!
September 2nd, 2008, Ro and I were married at the registro civil in Pudahuel, Santiago, Chile.
December 18th, 2008, I came back to Minnesota to celebrate the holidays with my family. Rodrigo and I have never spent Christmas or New Years together. And you know what? That's sad!
January 13th, 2009, I went back to Santiago.
June 1st, 2009, Rodrigo and I went to Minnesota together! He met my family for the first time!
September 22nd, 2009, Rodrigo left me in Minnesota to work, while he went back to Chile to work. This was our longest time apart since we have been together.
January 21st, 2010, I landed back in Santiago Chile and started all the paperwork to get my work visa so we would have 2 incomes to support us instead of just one. I sent out the paperwork 2 weeks later.
February 27th, 2010, we all know what happened. The ground shook and gave the immigration office a good excuse to lose my paperwork. I received my temporary visa 3 weeks before I was headin back up here for my uncle's wedding and my cousin's wedding this summer.
June 3rd, 2010, I left Santiago, again without my husband. I have been here ever since, I was supposed to fly back July 19th, but I had to change my ticket because Zoe's rabies shot wasn't "aged" enough inside her or whatever it does that after a month its ok to bring her.
August 8th, 2010, I will land back in Chile. I have a no date return ticket to MN, that will be used only in case of emergency.
Rodrigo and I have been together for 3 and a half years. We have been APART 60 weeks or those 3 and a half years. That means we have spent over a year apart! A WHOLE YEAR :( So, that's the end of that. I am moving to Santiago, Santiago is going to be "home" for me.

Hopefully UGLY can be fixed with a fresh coat of paint!!

Don't get me wrong, I am grateful that I will have somewhere other than MIL's house to live in when I get back to Chile, but yes, our house is UGLY. There just isn't a better way to say it. Thankfully I have faith that even just giving the whole thing some color (at the moment its all white, but dingy dirty dirty walls) and a fresh coat of paint can definitely fix the ugliness! : D I think being sprayed with some bleach and water will help too... its looks kind of moldy, like the kind of mold that used to be in the bathroom above the shower in my apartment in Montana, but it might really just be dust and dirt. So, today I have been busy watching the video of Ro's tour of the house and trying to coordinate wall colors with tile in the living room, with the cabinets in the kitchen, and my favorite... the blue bathroom complete with busted and missing old gray tiles, blue toilet, blue bathtub, and blue sink. I'm not talking sky blue or baby pastel blue, this is a crazy bright blue. The bathroom is going to need to be completely torn out and new tile needs to be put in, but for now that stays the way it is. I am trying to imagine what to paint in there to make it at least look decent. The walls in the bathroom that aren't tile are brick. (Chileans seem to have this weird way of decking out entire bathrooms in tile, at least the bathrooms I have seen.) At the moment the brick is a almost pink almost red color. It reminds me of the color of a red outside bench that sat in the sun and faded after a few sunny summers. I personally don't think that matches blue tub, toilet, and sink, I really don't know what would match that... I was thinking maybe just a shade of gray. OR I could just paint it the exact color of the toilet and then when we put in new tile I can put in blue tile the same color as the toilet, and have an fugly blue bathroom. Hahahaa!! At least it would be MY fugly blue bathroom. Too bad the toilet, tub and sink aren't green, then I would do everything else blue and get a shower curtain with the world on it... yeah my interior design sucks!  The flooring in our bedroom is just going to be covered with as big of an area rug as I can find, and the walls I think need to be painted a nice happy color. We currently use a quilt that my grandma gave me for my 21st birthday as our bed cover. Its blue, yellow, black, and white. So I was kind of thinking maybe a cream or light yellow or 7685 white raisin at Sherwin Williams.  The other room upstairs is going to just stay how it is I think, maybe we will put a fresh coat of white on it. It'll probably be repainted blue or pink soon enough anyways. The downstairs I don't really know what to do with, everything downstairs besides the bathroom and kitchen has a dark reddish brick looking tile. We don't have any furniture at all, so, I can pretty must just do whatever I guess, but it has to be a lighter color because its a longish skinnyish area. I was thinking either a light sage green color or a tan like 7540 artisan tan at Sherwin Williams.  I don't really know if that is a light enough color though... I am just hoping that any kind of fresh paint is better than how it is right now. Maybe I should take a class and learn how to decorate a house. I really do suck at it and its funny because I have been so excited to have my own place to decorate and now that I am getting the chance, I don't know what the flip to do!!! Oh well, at least we will have a home :o) no more waiting for 2 hours to go to the bathroom while SIL is taking a shower, no more waiting til 10pm to use the kitchen to make lunch/supper/food I'm freaking hungry, no more worrying about...making noise... no more! :o) Now I just have a couple weeks more here in MN then Zoe and I are flying back to Ro! I am dreading the goodbyes, I know its going to be really really hard to say goodbye here because I have put it into my mind that I am moving to Chile. Chile will be my home now, whether I like it or not. I also don't know when I will be coming back to Minnesota and I know one goodbye will be a forever goodbye. But, I need my husband, I can't live without him anymore!

You have to read the boring stuff first :P

So, here I am in Minnesota. I am supposed to be in Chile right now, but I'm not. I am here waiting for Zoe's rabies shot to cure or whatever the heck it needs to do...it takes a month and she got the shot on the 8th of July. Which is why I will not be back in Chile until the 8th of August. Sigh now I am ready to go back. I miss Rodrigo and we never get to talk anymore because he has been working all day everyday. I am glad that work is the reason he can't talk to me because I sure to hate it when he goes out for a weekend and doesn't give me any time. Nothing new here really. I went to a wedding on Saturday and got all tanked and remember ordering a blueberry mammoth muffin at Perkins, I don't however remember paying for it. Oops... then again I was in a huge group of friends so hopefully it got taken care of. I also remember walking around Little Falls with a few friends trying to find a hotel. Fun, fun. Sunday I was supposed to go to a family picnic, but decided that I needed a nap and lots of water and more nap and then the sun went down. I bought some Mountain Dew chapstick and some Molten Chocolate Cake chapstick at Claires for someone. I won't say who... but it wasn't me. I prefer good old cherry chapstic, name brand. I also bought some magnetic earrings for my little brother. The big fake diamond kind. He's going to wear them tomorrow when he comes home from his baseball game and say "We won so we all went out and pierced our ears and see what my dad says. I have been reading a lot lately and have been layin in the sun soakin up some rays and trying to bronzify myself. I have finally passed the point where I won't burn my upper half, but my legs are being stubborn and trying to stick with the pasty white color. I live a boring life. I also have a cold from hell and have been sneezing and coughing since Sunday. Yeah... see how exciting.

So a few more weeks left of this vacation and back to Chile, back to work, back to husband AND :o) back to a HOUSE!!! And no, not my MIL's house!!! Well, off to read a bit before I try to fall asleep. Nighty night!

Yesterday...and today.

Yesterday I went shopping and bought some new flip flops. I also went to a thrift store looking for treasure and found something kind of cool! I found a 1976 commemorative bicentennial 7UP bottle! Its pretty sweet.

Today, is the Morrison County Relay for Life, well, more like tonight is. I decorated a bunch of the luminaries and the ceremony starts at 10pm. It will be at the school in Little Falls. So if anyone is in the area you should come check it out and visit! I am not technically on a team, but I will be there with Ben's Battalion. They will be sporting the gray Relay for Life shirts because gray is the color for brain cancer. I really can't remember if I have blogged about it before, but last summer doctors discovered a 6cm tumor in my grandpa's brain. Doctors at the MAYO clinic performed a surgery to try to remove the tumor. Because of the location, they weren't able to remove all of it. After removing what they could they discovered that it was glioblastoma multiforme. Since then he has been having different treatments to try to shrink it. They have seen it grow and then recently he has been on an experimental chemo and they have seen it shrink. This form of cancer is not curable, only treatable. Ben's Battalion has raised over $3500. So, tonight, we walk for the cure of cancer.

Dreams.

I haven't been able to sleep very good at all in the last few weeks. I have dreamt and tossed and turned night after night, after night. I miss having my hubby in bed next to me. I am starting to just think that is the only reason I am not sleeping. I am also thinking that its because as much as I am ready to be back in Chile with Ro, I am sooooo not looking forward to it. Ro told me that we aren't going to have an apartment right away when I get back. So, I am once again dreading the fact that I have to live in my in-laws house again.
I have even started having nightmares about it. I dream of being locked in our bedroom and not being able to get out until late at night when Ro gets home from work. Of course I have a right to be scared of being in my room all day because that's how it was this last time before I left Chile. We weren't allowed to use the kitchen until night and someone won't mention names... was always in the bathroom. For hours at a time. She I mean they, would take a shower then who knows wtf they were doing after that.
I have also dreamt a whole lot of crazy. I have dreamt of going to the dentist and somehow finding out that I am pregnant with triplets on top of the fact that I need to get 8 cavities filled. I know the cavity thing is just me fear of the dentist there just trying to get money out of me because I have never had a cavity in my life and honestly if a Chilean dentist tells me that I have one, I will make him let me see the xrays because I know what they look like. The being pregnant with triplets... I don't even know what to say to that... I guess I'm stocking up on condoms and making sure I never run out of bc pills. No babies for this girl!!
I have dreamt that I was on an airplane heading back to Chile and it landed in Bozeman, Montana instead. And instead of getting on a different flight back to Chile, I just went right back to working like I did when I lived there August 2006 to March 2007. Everything I left there just picked right back up and went on as if I never left in the first place. Of course the horrible part in that dream was that Ro never showed up.
I have dreamt of waking up and every thing in our room had icicles hanging from it and our bedroom door was frozen shut!
I have dreamt of being somewhere in the woods with Ro and we were lost there, but we had everything that we needed to live. There was a house there for us, food, everything to survive. The only thing we didn't have there was a way of communicating with the rest of the world. This dream wasn't very much a nightmare it was kind of peaceful and stress free.
I have dreamt of running away with him. I don't know where we were, but I know that his family and my family both had no idea where we were. We owned a gas station somewhere and somehow a cousin of mine showed up there while Ro was working. Ro called me because that person recognized him and he didn't know what to do. When I went to see them I was carrying a baby. Ro and I sold the gas station and ran away again.
Crazy ass dreams... maybe I should just take sleeping pills and hope they can give me a restless dreamless sleep.

Ummmm

Did  I mention that I had to work for Holdingford Daze??? Well, I did. But, we were allowed to drink so it wasn't too bad. And I was paid in cash before the bars... all THREE of them closed!!! I just had to check IDs and take moneys and hand out the little Bud Select wrist bands. I like Bud Select. So here I am back at home eating cold pizza and hanging out with Zoe and writing a post I guess. :D It was a good night. Happy 102nd birthday Holdingford!!! :D

Yeap, I love my hick town!

Instead of leaving Minnesota July 19th, I am now staying until August 7th. I'm a little bit excited about it because now I will be able to have 2 extra weekends and each include something fun!! So, I am booked on all weekends, but I still have A LOT of weekdays to fill up. Tomorrow is Holdingford Daze (Take me out to the ballgame is the theme this year) here in Holdingford, MN. Yay. I was looking at wiki and I have to put in the stats from the 2000 census just so you realize what kind of town this is. Before that, history! Holdingford is said to be "Lake Wobegon" a fictional town in Garrison Keilor's stories and radio show. SIDE NOTE: Lindsey Lohan starred in A Prairie Home Companion in 2006. So yeah... cool..ish.... Holdingford was said to be the moonshine capital of Minnesota during prohibition. Old bunch of drunks!! :P The moonshine was called "Minnesota 13" and I know there is even a whole book written about it. I have yet to read it... I doubt they have an ebook version of it! HA! I just think its kind of a neat history that the whole community of Holdingford pulled together to break the law!! Any famous people?? Well, I have never heard of them so I'll just leave them out...who wants to read about Kenny "Sodbuster" Benkowski anyways?? Anywho! Back to the census information! Holdingford has a population of 736, it says so on the sign. (So yeah maybe that's why I conflict so much with Santiago city life!) Tthe "racial makeup," 99.1% White, 0.54% Asian, and 0.27% from 2 or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.14% in the year 2000. So yeah, its white up here! Anyone wanna read a history blog about Holdingford?? Check it out!! There you can find probably anything you need to know about Htown! Okay, that's the end of my knowledge I'm not even sure when Holdingford was settled, but I think it was 1908 maybe... So now that you have an idea of my sweet old hometown, I will tell you the events that will be going on tomorrow during Holdingford Daze. Today of course the festivities started with a car show. I didn't go. Cars don't really turn me on.... There was also a Walk of Hope which I also didn't go to because next weekend I am going to the Relay for Life and that's about my only reason for not going. Tomorrow is the big day though. There will be a sand volley ball tournament, softball tournament, 5K walk/run, baking contest, kiddie parade, regular parade, a cake walk( I dunno what that is...) a pie eating contest, BINGO, a chicken dinner, a polka mass (OH BOY!) a lawnmower tractor pull, a vintage baseball game, square dancing, then of course a street dance and fireworks. Wahoo! Usually we have a greased pig catching contest, but it must have fallen out of the schedule or something. I will of course be going to the parade and working on my tan, I may wander around for awhile and then at 7pm.... I will be standing in the front of one of our THREE bars checking IDs. Oh joy.... but, I get paid 8 bucks an hour and will be making money rather than spending it on booze and I will be in a good location to see the fireworks so why not? So, as I am in a goodish mood tonight and I am kind of thinking about enjoying my extra 2 weeks here. So Happy Birthday Holdingford!! PS Someone in the obituaries from around these parts died a few days ago and she was 108 years old!!! CRIPES! She probably lived that old because she didn't get married and never had any kids! Alright, as my aunt would say, "big gulps huh? Welp see ya later" of course she is quoting Dumb and Dumber...in case you didn't know! :o) Nighty night!!

Looks like I'm staying in MN a little longer

I have decided to change my plane ticket and stay in Minnesota for 2 extra weeks. I knew it was going to cause problems, I just got it all wrong on the person that would be mad at me. Ro is a little bit sad, but so am I. I miss him. He is my husband, he is mine and I miss seeing him every single day. But, Zoe is going back to Chile with me and if that means waiting 2 weeks then fine. I'll wait so I can take my little muffin with me! Since I have been home I have been putting myself in other people's shoes. I have thought about how living their lives must be. Many times I left the thought feeling extremely jealous, sometimes I could really understand where they were coming from, but some people I don't get it. For the life of me I could put myself in their shoes and as much as I wish I could see what has them so cheesed off about me, I just don't see it. I don't understand the way I am treated here. My family doesn't get me. The connection I thought I had to this place seems to have disappear right before my eyes. Maybe Minnesota, "home," doesn't deserve the halo I put on its head. Every time I come back here I feel awkward at first and this time I haven't lost that feeling. I miss so much of what is going on in other people's lives, I miss trips, get togethers I miss it all. And when I come back I can't laugh at the remember when.... because I was never there so of course I don't remember. Sigh. I think its time for me to give up. Why should I make Rodrigo move here when I don't even feel accepted here? That just doesn't seem fair. But then again, life is not fair. It never has been and probably never will be. Of course I am going to try to enjoy the rest of my time here, but I am not going to lie its going to be hard especially now that I really know how they feel when I come home. Sigh. I didn't think I was thought of as so little....ever.....

Life Support.

–adjective: of or pertaining to anything that fosters or sustains life ,success, or continued existence, as of a person, thing, ornation.

Currently in Chile, my life support is Rodrigo. And nothing else. I have few friends and even less that I consider "good friends." I do consider being able to talk to my friends and family a form of my life support in Chile, but face to face talking is something completely different.

 In Minnesota, my life support mainly is Rodrigo by connection to the internet and text messages, lots of family and lots of really really good friends both the gold kind and the silver ones too!!! But, there are many other things that I use to keep myself happy and willing to wake up every day and want to live, something that I don't have in Chile. I have my peace. I can wake up at 3am (if I wanted to...and I sometimes really do...) and I can go outside. I can look up at the sky and I can sit there in almost complete darkness and I can see the stars and I can hear the earth. I find my peace with the world in the middle of the night. I find my peace in the loneliness and in the darkness. (I really truly hate drive alone and in the dark though!!) 


I thought I had a point but after that last glass of Bacardi Limon I don't remember.