Texifornia Stats

Found this interesting tid-bit doing research on California Ballot measures today:

From 2000 to 2015, the state lost nearly 800,000 residents with incomes near or below the poverty line. Nearly three-quarters of those who left California since 2007 made less than $50,000 annually. The leading destination for California’s poor? Texas.
From CalMatters Article "Californians, ere's why your housing prices are so high."

So, for those here who have moved from California to Texas, was finances part of the reason?

So, I heard Texas got snow...

So...this happened...

That picture (and the humor) was from a friend of mine in Houston...not from me, cause as you know if you read my last post, I'm not in Texas anymore.

And NOW it decides to snow.

You remember around 2008 - 2011 or so Texas got some pretty good snow? (And, for any northerners dropping by,  by "pretty good"  I mean enough snow to scrape a snowman off your yard if you try really, really hard).  

Well, you may not but my kids sure do...and EVERY SINGLE YEAR SINCE any time the temperature would drop, they would look to the sky for white stuff, and get mad when none would come.  

So now I'm in a place with mountains in short driving distance...but even the mountains aren't getting snow (least not any that sticks long enough for us to get there.)  Meanwhile, TEXAS is having tons of it (and by tons, I mean...ah, well, um....SOME).   It's like the state is blowing snowy zerberts at us!

Seriously, though I can't complain...it's like 75 degrees here.  

Enjoy the snow ya'll!

I'm Back in California!

So, I'm back in California now....and not just for a Vacation!  This summer we packed up and moved to San Diego, my hubby's hometown, thanks to a new job. 

I can not tell you how good it feels to be back.   When my husband, who came earlier than us, picked us up at the airport and we got in the car and drove through the city with all the palm trees, stucco buildings, murals, HILLS, marinas, etc....I just wanted to scream for joy.  I was HOME!

Don't get me wrong...I had grown to love where I lived, and I still dearly miss so many of the people there.  So many people who had become like family.  But the place itself, the geography, weather, etc.....it's never felt like home the way California does.

I'm even sleeping better.    The whole time I've been in Texas I've struggled with insomnia (and in summer, when I can go to bed when I want, a creeping sleep schedule).   I haven't had that trouble since I came back.

So, anyways, I'll be writing more soon about how I'm seeing California now after being away so long, and fun outings we've been doing, etc....but I just wanted to let you all know I'm back.

Texifornia Quote of the Day

Around October you will become very tired of summer and wish it would go away.  Then one morning you will awaken and it will be 40 [degrees] outside.  All the leaves will have departed the trees overnight and will be sitting in the yard, demanding to be raked. 

~ Helen Bryant, from Fixin' to Be Texan

Sale at the Texifornia Souvenir Shop

Through August 6th use coupon code STUDYINSTYLE for up to 50% OFF the following items with my photos and designs...

An InLinkz Link-up

40% Off Texifornia Pillows

Check out these fun pillows with my photos and designs. You can use coupon code ZPILLOWFIGHT for 40% off pillows at my Texifornia Zazzle Shop or any of my other Zazzle shops through Oct. 1...AND the same coupon code gets you get 20% off NEARLY everything else in my shops (everything save stamps and a few of my posters--which have a lesser discount).



Can't be combined with other offers, including bulk discounts.

Dear Texas Drivers,

Thanks to Bill Abbot for use of the picture above. 

OK, Texans (well, some of you...you'll know who you are)...I want to share with you about a useful communication tool in your car.  It's called a BLINKER.   You use it to let other people know that you are turning into their lane  (really, that's what it's for).  When you see someone using their blinker, you are supposed to slow down to let that car into your lane.   If ya'll can't manage that, at least have the courtesy to maintain your speed in stead of speeding up to block the person from getting in.

Cause Texans, I know you all pride yourself in your Southern hospitality.  And honestly, it's true--ya'll are nice people, by and large.  That is, until you get into the car, and then all that hospitality gets thrown out the window.

Really, California has you beat on that.  And it's not just my own idealized memory.   My friend and her husband from New England were telling me about how they noticed that on their last trip to California:  "When people there put on their blinkers, they do it well ahead of when they are going to merge, and everyone, universally, just slows down to let them in."  My friend thought it was so polite.

And politeness is a good thing, right?  If we rewarded people by letting them in when they use their blinker, maybe more people would use them, and we'd have safer, friendlier roads.  Wouldn't that be great?

So, Texans, DRIVE FRIENDLY and PLEASE use your blinker or at least be nicer to those who do.  Thanks.

Sincerely,
A Texifornia Girl

(OK, rant finished).

15% Off Texifornia Souvenirs

Use Coupon code LASTCHANCE12for 15% off everything at My Texifornia Zazzle shop (excluding stamps*)!  Ends Dec 15.

This coupons is also good at 

My Scribbleprints Shop



*On stamps, it only counts for 10% off on the net sale price, which is the price of the stamps minus the regular cost of postage. 

California ...through Texas eyes.

This Sunday at the park I met up with a mom about my age, and her 6 year old son and 18 month baby girl.  Her son talked about hunting with his dad, and "how he wanted to get a gun, at least a BB gun."   It was definately a "This is Texas" moment. 


Though I know it's not just a Texas moment, as I tell the boy how  my dad bought me a BB gun when I was little, but I was all into Bambi and wasn't interested at the time.  He had guns and wore a cowboy hat, but he was Californian born and raised.

Later we meet up with the boy again on the swings and somehow it comes up that I'm from California.

"California?  It's hot there isn't it" he asks.

"Yep, sometimes," I say, "But it can be cold too.  When we went out in August last year, it was cold at the beach." 

He was a little surprised about that...probably as surprised as I was to hear a Texan talk about how hot California is.  I mean, compared to Texas in summer, Califonria heat is nothing.  

A few minutes later he says, "I know they don't have a lot of cars out there, in California." 

"Sure they do," I answer.  "Just as many as here." 

"Do they ride horses?" he asked.

"Yes, but probably not as much as out here." 

"Oh, well I've never been to California.  I'm a Texan." 

I'm sure if you had asked me about Texas when I was 6, what I would have said something just as sketchy and far-fetched about it.  I probably wouldn't have said "I'm a Californian" though.  I don't think I even thought of myself as Californian until I left. 

There's a difference between saying, "I'm from California" and "I'm a Californian."  The first is just about where you live, the second takes ownership.  It says, this isn't just the place I occupy--it's who I am (or part of it anyways).  Its why I can still think of myself as "Californian" even though I've been out here over 10 years and don't have plans to move back.  It's why my mom still calls herself a New Englander, even though she hasn't lived in New England since her teens.  It's why I'll probably never be able to say, "I'm a Texan" no matter how long I live here.

But you don't have to be born someplace to have that kind of ownership.  Some people who move to Texas really do become Texans...they own it.  Like how we became "mountainers" when we moved to the California mountains.  We didn't move there because we had to...we FOUGHT to get there.  We had been longing for that place with every vacation trip we took there, and when we got there it was home.  It still is home.  And I still miss it.   

(And I miss my Dad.)

Aloha, its a Texas Earthquake!

Any Texifornians feeling more at home?  I heard somewhere in South Texas the earth decided to shake!  Earthquakes in Texas...very Texifornian.  But earthquakes are one thing I'd be happy to let stay in California, thank you very much.  Hope you all are well and not too shaken up.  I'd love to hear your stories.  Did you feel it?  Was it actually bad, or just bad if you're from Texas and never felt one before?

(That will be my Aloha Friday question today...but, if you're not from Texas, tell me...have you ever felt an earthquake?)

Sale at the Texifornia Souvenir Shop!

Get 25% off at the Texifornia Shop at Zazzle with coupon code GIFTERDEAL25 through Oct 23!

This is Texas Summer

TEXAS HEAT by manewind

I had this coversation with some of my facebook friends back in July...

ME:  Wow...it's 2:41 and ONLY 91 degrees out...no, seriously, this may be the coolest day we've had all summer!

CALIFORNIAN FRIEND:   Getting homesick for living in the shadow of the Mojave?

TEXIFORNIAN FRIEND:  Seriously!!! I know! Aren't we getting close to 30 days in a row of over 100 degrees this summer?!? I am ready for fall! :)

MY MOM (A New England Texifornian):  30 days! Try 60!!! And more of the same next week!

TEXAS FRIEND:  ‎98 here...I almost had to run back in for a jacket earlier :)

---

Well, it's been another month of triple digits since then (which I was glad to be out of Texas for half of).   The heat inspired one Texas blogger to make a Texas version of "The Beat Goes On" (The HEAT goes on).  But seems we're finally getting a little relief now (at least here in Waco).  It's been comparatively "nice" the last couple days...and more rain is expected later this week.   

Souvenir Spotlight - Etsy Finds!

Found these great state love decor items on Etsy.

I Heart California Print by Parada Creations

(also available in yellow, blue, and coral red)

I Heart Texas

(also available in red and blue)

Heart Strings Map by Felix Street Studio

You can put the hearts in whatever states you want!

Wouldn't this be a cool gift for a Texifornian?

Just had to share those!

Thank You!

Thank you to whoever bought this bumper sticker from my Zazzle shop...

TEXIFORNIAN BUMPER STICKER by Texifornia
Create bumper stickers on zazzle.com

I hadn't even announced the shop yet because I wanted to get some more Texifornia designs...and just hadn't have the time. And I happened to check my stats and guess what...someone had bought that bumper sticker back in December! (Plus two people bought Texas Shamrocks in March.) That was just a really nice surprise!

This Weeks Finds

I decided to post my weekly Texas and California blogging finds (and the occassional Texifornian one).  This is actually for the past two weeks, since I didn't get it up earlier.  Oops.  Anyways, found some wonderful posts and photography.

TEXIFORNIA
I met a new Texifornian this week.   (She says shes doesn't really count the Texan part...but generally refers to herself as an exile.  I can relate to that.)  She has FOUR blogs--all of them excellent, but the one I thought had the most "Texifornian" appeal was her blog Owl's Farm:  "the Farm consists a series of musings, mostly about place: topophilia, utopia, dystopia, geography, landscape, and home." 


TEXAS
A little rain yesterday and the puddles were mirrors is a beautiful poetic description of fall in Texas, and then followed that by another beautiful description of East Texas: somerset life: in which i tell the the world about east texas.

And here's my favorite Texas Sky Watch Post:

• Terrel Daily Photos
• From the Heart of Texas 

CALIFORNIA
There were OH SO MANY Californian Sky Watch Pictures to love these last two weeks.   Here are my favorites in no particular order.

• Live, Love, Give!
• Uberrhund (gotta love the caption!)
• Way Out West 
• Murrieta365
• The Sky is Big in Pasadena 
• Desert Southwest
• The Glamourous Life (neat old Art Deco Theater)

Small Talk 6 - Shirts I've Read and Loved

I was busy setting up a garage sale when the last Small Talk 6 was put up, but I'll have to crash this party late because I simply can't miss this one. You see, I sell T-Shirts through CafePress and Zazzle and Printfection, and when I'm not busy on my own shops I love browsing other's to see all the pretty and witty designs. So, since this IS Texifornia I'm sharing my 6 favorite Texas and California shirt slogans...and even THAT was hard to narrow down to 6!.


1.  My favorite T-Shirt ever is....

Ski Texas T-Shirt by the Online Paper Airplane Museum
...and yeah, my love of it has as much to do with the picture as the slogan.

2.   You've probably heard of the Slogan "Don't Mess With Texas" --well, there are so many good parodies of that it was hard to choose.  Here's one of my faves...

If you can't read that, it says

"Go ahead...it's pretty messed up anyway."

This shirt is by Americasaurus. 

3. And here's another...

Don't Mess with China...It's like Texas, only you really can't mess with it.
  by mathcaddy

4.  You may have seen shirts with the slogan "Keep Austin Weird" before (which, by the way, I love).  But even better still is this Lubbock Parody....

Keep Lubbock Flat

5.  Ok, time for some California tees already!   Here's one that makes me laugh (if someone reads this long in the future, this was from the age of Arnold):

 My Govenor Can Beat Up Your Govenor

by The Tee Garden

6.  And this one is perfectly Texifornian... 

I don't care how they do it here...I'm from California.

This one is by one of my favorite Celtic artists,

VoxFox, who has shops through CafePress and Zazzle. 

Only the CafePress shop has this design, which is a bit

out of character from his intricately drawn artwork.

There's versions for other states too, including Texas. 

 So there you have it...my 6 favorite Texas/California Slogans (for now...I'm bound to find more).  If you have a blog you can post your own Small Talk 6 and leave a link on MomDot. If you don't have a blog, feel free to  join in by posting your 6 in a comment below!

The CafePress shirt images are used without permission in the hopes that these artists would want me to use them to promote their shirts--but if anyone does not want these images posted on this blog, please let me know and I'll take them down right away.  The Zazzle t-shirts are linked through the Zazzle Affiliate program.  It's easier to link them that way, but I can also earn money if you buy them through my links (which I don't mind a bit either).  

Aloha Friday

Welcome to this week’s edition of Aloha Friday!  Every Friday (well, ok, almost every Friday) I ask a simple question--nothing that requires a lengthy response. 

OK...in light of the recent earthquake in California, and considering I haven't yet done a really "Texifornian" Aloha Friday question yet....

Which is worse (in your own humble opinion), earthquakes or tornadoes?

Please leave your answer in a comment below.  And, if you have a blog and would like to post your own question you can leave your link at An Island Life.   (Also shared this on Throwback Thursday at Living Life.

Texas Summer?

What great weather we're having!  When it's not raining (which I don't mind a bit...waters my garden nicely) it's just gorgeous outside.  My husband heard a sports newscaster commenting on TV about that:

I wanted them to get a taste of real Texas football in July.  And it's 80 outside!  And they're STILL complaining because they're from San Diego and that's 10 degrees higher than 70!
-Some Texas Sports Newscaster

I guess San Diego was playing one of our teams (yes, I don't know which one...that's how much into football I am).  And no, that's not an exact quote because it wasn't me that was watching it.  If you know who said that and on what channel, please let me know, cause I think it's hilarious.  Seriously, my husband's from San Diego, and he has a joke that when the weather hits 60 degrees it's 10 below (10 below 70 that is!).  Funny to hear that thought echoed on the news!

Blog Party Game: Texifornian This or That

You may have played the this or that game before. It's really simple. You just answer the last persons "This or That" and then comment with a new one. In this game, try to keep the topic of the this or that related to California or Texas.

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Souvenir Saturday - Texifornia Tee

I like to search for funny and interesting "stuff" related to Texas and California. This week I found a particularly Texifornian T-shirts at Zazzle.

TEXIFORNIApopulation: 1 by dustinvs

LIKE IT! Though I might argue that Texifornia has a lot larger population than one!

I'm gonna try to do this "Souvenir Saturday" every week. Originally was going to make it T-Shirt Tuesday, but that just excludes entirely too much good stuff (like bumper stickers and postcards and strange little figurines). Should be fun!

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