Welcome 2010

Somewhere it is January 1st

Since I will be headed to bed long before midnight (in fact I will be getting up AT midnight to get ready for work)

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Challenge

"Something completely unexpected that lifts our spirits ..."

It's closing in. The end of 2009. I wonder what 2010 holds.

Contemplation, celebration, closure. I would like to spend a few minutes, hours, days maybe thinking on these words. There's just enough time to spend a day on each word.

Contemplation ...
Celebration ...
Closure ...

Ahhhhhhhh

Now its time for the post-Christmas blues.

Coming down off the sugar high, the booze, and the other self-indulgent stuff of the past week. Sleeping in, eating very poorly, sitting around all day and all night, sleeping in, good food. Did I mention sleeping and eating? Drinking? :)

Its the days after, where you look at all the loot and go "but I didn't get a ..." or "Jeez, I am such a spoiled brat." Personally, spoiled brat is where I am at!

We had so many Christmas celebrations I lost count. It started two weekends ago when LK was in town. We did a birthday/Christmas thing with her. Then last weekend my dad was in town and we did a "Miller Christmas" thing with that side of the family and then a Christmas/birthday thing for the kids with my dad and his family. (That's 3 if you have lost count.)

Sunday of that weekend we went to My Honey's work party where Santa always shows up with something for the kids. Wednesday was family dinner with my mom. Thursday was Christmas Eve with My Honey's family. Friday was Christmas Day at home then dinner at his sisters'. Saturday ... What did we do yesterday? I think nothing. We took the kids out in the afternoon to get some fresh air and to do some shopping (where we all got something new). Today my step-dad visited then we went grocery shopping aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand, we're done! Whew! Five of the past 7 days my kids have opened at least one present. This week will be such a downer.

Maybe I will re-wrap their presents so they don't feel un-spoiled. Whatever. I won't. I think that was seven Christmas celebrations in all. GROSS. I mean, really. Who needs SEVEN Christmas celebrations? Correction: EIGHT. Eight Christmases. Double gross.

Some would be thankful for just one. I realize and appreciate that. I really do. How do I transfer that knowledge to my kids? Interesting question.

Now its into the work week. Sort of. I don't work until Wednesday, but I really need to work on getting to bed early. Maybe being forced to get out of bed before 10:30 in the morning will help? The past few days My Honey has taken the morning shift. Lucky me. But not so much when it comes to going back to work!

Early morning swim or aerobics, here I come!!!!

Nearly the end

The girls
My kids and Cousin Hunter
One more Christmas to go. I keep thinking "this is the last one" but then one more relative that has presents calls. The last one is my step-dad. Is he still my step-dad if he and my mom are divorced? He visits nearly every Christmas, brings the kids a present. Really a sweet guy. He is bringing his girlfriend this year...

We celebrated at my sister in law's yesterday. It was bittersweet. Her father in law passed away on the 20th. There were lots of "firsts." The most poignant was the first family dinner where he didn't bless the meal.

All in all, a very relaxing Christmas. Why? Because I didn't work. What a difference THAT made! Note to self: TAKE CHRISTMAS OFF EVERY YEAR. Too late for next year, but I did manage to get the week before off which should also help.

We had a fun family day today. Once I got up and go going that is. No one bothered me till I got out of bed at 1030! Another reason to take time off! We went to some after-Christmas sales. New towels anyone? Fred Meyer rocks!

Fooled again

The cousins last night

The cousins on Bubba's birthday
Ahhhhh, I'm on vacation from work for a few days and its kind of nice. Sort of different than usual and I don't know why. Its a good different. I just can't pinpoint what is is or why. But its good. Peaceful. Quiet. Nice.

It's not like I have NOTHING to do ... we had a Christmas party at my Mom's last night, a party at my MIL's tonite and our own family stuff on Christmas day, plus maybe visiting with my SIL's extended family on Christmas day. But its just that things feel calmer than usual for the holidays. I have nothing left to do but just enjoy which is really nice!

We had a nice time at my Mom's last night! My brother and his new (5 month old) daughter were there. I am such a loser-aunt, I have not even met her yet (yeah, they live about a mile away .... LOSER) but she was smitten with me! And I with her. She has SO MUCH HAIR! and such a yummy chubby face, her daddy's eyes and a sweet temperament. She looked like a little Santa's helper in her Christmas outfit. Very cute.

My Honey MADE me open my Christmas present(s) early. Which reminded me of the year he proposed, on Christmas Eve, before we went to any family dinners. I will never forget going to his surrogate parents' house (you know the kind, your best friends parents that you have called "mom & dad" since you can remember?) "Mom" opened the door and said "well let me see the ring!!!" She was very excited for us.

Anyway, he had bought a box of Frangos, carefully opened it, hidden the ring box inside, and that was my Christmas present. I didn't realize the ring box was inside the Frango box, he had to ask me if I wanted to eat one. Funny thing was I had actually looked the package over to see if it had been tampered with and judged the weight to make sure that is what it was (I am an EXPERT snooper) and it looked and felt just right to me! He's a good fooler!

Fast forward 19 Christmases, he fooled me again. Inside the box for my new iPod-stereo-thing was a new iTouch!!! YAY! He had to tell me to open it all the way, so I was expecting a CD inside, HA! Fooler! Good work :) Again. That's My Honey.
Thanks Love :)

** 4 pm **
I just gotta say I rock! I got the stereo set up, working, playing cd's, radio or my Touch, just need one connector thing to hook it to the TV. Got my Touch all sync'd AND figured out how to get pictures on it too! Next step, video. Kids were pretty good all day, getting ready for dinner at the MIL's house. Bottle of wine chilling for after. Ready for a nice quiet evening!

xoxoxo

Merry Christmas to you all
Me and My 3 H's

Third Monday

Maybe I should have taken pictures? It didn't even occur to me!

Bubba and I spend the day together. Miss I had preschool and was at day care all day so it was just us. Just like the old days. When he was 3 & 4 years old we would go out for lunch pretty regularly and hang out downtown. So that's what we did. We dropped Miss I off, got ourselves lattes (hot chocolate for him) and then set out for the Y. My Honey had forgotten his wallet, cell phone and nitro (you never know)so we dropped that off then walked downtown. We checked out a few shops, had lunch then he got to hang out at grandmas for awhile because I had an appointment for a massage. (Ahhhh! I dozed off several times.) I picked him up, we did some more shopping then headed home.

I was getting ready to go get Miss I when Bubba asked me the question of the day. The year really.... "Can I stay at home while you go." *gulp* really?

It makes sense, he's EIGHT now and he has a new Nintendo DS. I could pretty much walk out the door and he wouldn't notice while he is playing! Anyway, it was a moment; my son who doesn't like to go upstairs to his room alone, wants to say at the house alone while I drive away in the car for 15 minutes. Yes, he got to stay home. And he did fine. Until he got hungry 3 minutes after I left, then he called me to see what he could have for a snack!

All in all a really fun day. Now we're into day two of vacation. Both kids are home today, so far so good. Too bad there isn't any snow! Thankfully its nice so the kids can go outside and play.

Second Monday

I spent the day shopping! Christmas is nearly wrapped up (no pun intended), just a few things left.

Last week was pretty busy. We had a pre-school Christmas program on Thursday night, LK and Mason arrived on Friday. Birthday party at our house on Saturday night for Bubba (he's EIGHT now!). A little shopping Sunday, LK left, and then a party at My Honey's work. Shew! It was go-go-go from Thursday on. Lots of late nights. Quite a few crabby-pants kids!! Miss I actually slept at daycare today, hopefully she will still sleep tonite.

This week promises to be more of the same. A little work drama. Overtime shifts on Thursday and Friday. My dad, his wife and my youngest sister are coming either Friday or Saturday, and a party Saturday afternoon. Then My dad will be leaving on Sunday. Additionally, it's its my long work week so that makes it early to bed for me.

Thankfully, after this week, only one more work day then I have 6 days off including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I don't remember the last Christmas Day I had off. Pretty sure it's been since I was on maternity leave 4 years ago! Wow! Maybe I will check my archives and see ...

First Monday

So, I ended up cleaning/re-arranging the living room so I can put out the Christmas stuff. It looks nice right now.

I took out a chair/ottoman that were spewing feathers everywhere for the past few years. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the chairs, but they're just old. I got rid of the first one last summer and finally did away with the second one and the ottoman today. Bye-bye chairs, I will miss you! But, for extra seating I want to add a piece of furniture, a love seat from the basement. It's gonna take at least 3 of us though, because of the recliners on both ends. Hopefully this weekend.

Another problem is plugging in my laptop. Our house is 50 or 60 years old so most of the outlets are just the two-hole jobbers. My laptop requires a three-prong-jobber. I think once the love seat is up here it won't be a problem.

The last problem is the TV. A few years back we bought a flat screen, I don't know what size, but It seemed HUGE then since there hadn't been a TV in the living room for a year or so. Now, that HUGE TV seems a tad small. Remind me not to tell My Honey I am thinking that! It's not a problem, really. I would really rather NOT have a TV in the living room, but since we have one ...

It was very, very, very cold today. I think the high was 25*. Brrrrr! The kids didn't get to go outside before school or for morning recess. (The school district has a policy of keeping them inside unless its above 15* and it wasn't that "warm" until after lunch today.)

Speaking of lunch, I had the nicest, quietest lunch today. All alone. By myself. So nice! I can't wait until next Monday!

Happy (early) birthday Bubba

What fun!
The Hockey game was a blast last night! Quite a late night for me considering I had been up since 2am and didn't get to sleep until after midnight, but it was soooooooo FUN!!! The boys each got a stocking cap with "lets go wild" on it, plus a teddy bear to toss on the ice and a TON of candy. Luckily no one got sick!

Bubba invited two of his friends, including his Best Buddy since pre-school to the game and we had a fun time. They sat in the row in front of us so there was the whole, "we are so cool because we don't have to sit with your parents" thing going on. It was great!

LK will be here this weekend! YAY! It should be a lot of fun with all the kids and fun birthday/Christmas stuff to do :)

I did myself a favor last week; when I paid for Miss I's preschool, I added one day a week of daycare. Guess which day? MONDAY! That would be tomorrow :)

I have several options ... Cross country skiing in Leavenworth? (Doesn't look like any new snow. Although, we got a skiff last night.) Christmas shopping? Decorating for Christmas? (Maybe.) Cleaning? (NO! I used a birthday gift and had my house cleaned last week!! That should last me for at least a month!) Guess I will just have to see what I am in the mood for when I am done at the school tomorrow.

The rest of the week isn't too bad. No overtime this week and my long weekend. (Except for a few hours I am working for the gal that went in EARLY for me today, bless her heart.) I am looking forward to that!

Countdown

Not only is the countdown to Christmas, it is also the countdown until I don't have to haul my lazy butt out of bed at 2am. I just counted, because I am a glutton for punishment, just how many more of these shifts I have left - 18. That's it, then a year of waking up at 4am which actually sounds a LOT better!

I had a LONG work week last week, several overtime shifts that royally kicked my ass. I slept and slept and slept the weekend away. Then, to make up for it, I shopped yesterday and today! Just groceries and stuff, but Miss I and I had fun, plus we took a few minutes to look at Christmas decorations and stuff.

On another note, I am saddened, I don't think that's a strong enough word, distraught, maybe, or just plain disgusted out-of-my-mind at the senseless killing of four Lakewood (WA) police officers over the weekend.

It saddens me for the families of the officers, their spouses, their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, kids, nieces, nephews ... well, you get he picture. People in law enforcement know what they are getting into, they prepare for it, their families prepare for it, but I think they all hope it doesn't happen to them. I sure the hell hope it doesn't happen to any of my guys.

I cannot imagine receiving the 911 call that says there were shots fired, statusing your officers and not getting an answer and just knowing. Because you would. The minutes that seem like hours before someone can get there to check on them only to find out you were right. And THEN the wait. The wait to see if it is really who you think it is. The wait to notify the families. The wait to find the rat bastard that did it.

The anger, rage really, that I feel toward the suspect cannot compare to the sorrow of all those involved. The sorrow is far reaching. It affects those in all kinds of public safety jobs, from all around the country. And you know who else? That rat bastard's family. He is someones son, maybe someones husband, or a father. There is another whole family destroyed. Granted, it may not have been much to begin with, but the fact remains he is dead too. And someone has to live with killing him. True, it is what they are trained to do, but taking a life is taking a life.

I could go on, but it doesn't get me anywhere. Grief is grief.

Disgusting. Disturbing. Senseless. Sad. Just plain sad.

Another Excursion

Feeling kind of like I have the holiday blues today. No reason too, I have the best in-laws ever who cook and take care of all the holiday meal plans for every holiday - including birthdays! All I have to do is show up. But I was in a funk, so after work (my 12 hour shift from 1am to 1pm) I went for a walk.

Porter's Pond is beautiful all year round, and today was a gorgeous 50 degree day. Perfect for a walk and a little photography. These are my favorites of the nearly 100 pictures I took. You gotta love digital. I don't even worry about how many pictures I take, I just point and click.

I hope the holidays were great for you all!

Ouch

You know how you get a paper cut under your fingernail?

*cringe*

I KNOW!!!

And then you SMACK the tip of your finger on a hard metal surface and bust it open, bruise it just enough to bring tears to your eyes and swear words right out your mouth? "SONOFA..." yeah.

Hurts like a mother trucker doesn't it? I've been nursing just such a wound all week. To add insult to injury, its my pointer finger. On my right hand. It's NEVER going to heal.

Its been a tremendously long week. Many late nights, many early mornings, and a ton of overtime. Today is my only day off until Sunday. I'm not sure how I ended up with so much overtime, but I did. I don't mind, really, we all need to pitch in and help, but it just turned out to be one of those weeks on top of the overtime. How much overtime you ask? 8 hours on my day off yesterday - which tagged onto my "long" work week - 2 hours planned on Friday morning (1:00 am I go to work, am I crazy?) and I work a 6 hour shift on my day off this Saturday. Really, 16 hours isn't that much, but it is for me.

Alright, enough of that.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and I have plenty to be thankful for:
My Honey, Bubba, and Miss I.
Understanding, forgiveness, love and acceptance.
Moms & dads, grandparents, aunts and uncles.
Safety, warmth, shelter, food and more of everything than I need.
Good friends, the kinds that meet me where I am, the kinds that are there when I need them.
Being blessed with different kinds of friends for different kinds of seasons in my life.
Basic freedoms, basic rights.

A happy Thanksgiving to you all.

Awkward

Overheard in the car on the way home from dropping Bubba off at school "Mama, I want a friend." Not the first time I have heard this from her in the past couple weeks.

I think she has been seeing Bubba with his friends at school, and we have had one of them over after school a few times (the girl friend!!) and she feels left out or she realizes that there is more to life than just family, school and gym class. I remember when Bubba was her age and how awkward it was for me to reach out to other parents to get the kids together. How do I do it, what do I say, do I really want TWO kids running around my house? What are the rules? Selfish I know, but still.

On the other hand, I know from experience that its really nice to have a second kid running around, they keep the first one busy. But, if I had someone over, it would force me to clean up the house. That means work for me. See how easy it is for me to talk myself out of it!

How hard would it be to invite someone to McDonald's after gym class? Or to leave a note for one of the moms at pre-school? I guess I am afraid of rejection. I am also afraid of not having something to talk to the parent about. I am not so good at conversation. Really, I'm not. I'm more of a watcher than a talker.

So, I am going to buy her some friends! I am going to take cookies or cupcakes to gym class for her birthday - which is tomorrow (good suggestion by My Honey) - since I suck and can't take anything to pre-school tomorrow because I work. (It just occurred to me that I could send something to pre-school too. DUH.)

In other news, I have fallen off the workout wagon HARD. Actually, I guess that would be soft. I am all soft and need to get back on it. I went on Saturday and did a really whimpy "cardio" workout and then a weight circuit. I am planning on heading in again today to do a real cardio workout (that means sweat) and see how I feel about weights after that. I figured if I did it before Miss I's gym class it would work out pretty good, my gym is just a few blocks from her class. But then I am all sweaty if someone actually does want to go out for lunch. See, there I go talking myself out of it again. :)

Nearly always

It nearly always tries to snow on or near my birthday. It doesn't always make it to town, but sometimes the far-away mountains get a little snow.

It's always one of my birthday wishes to see snow on or near my birthday, and this year didn't let me down. It's been trying to snow all day (in town) with minor success. So I built a fire and me and the kids are just kicking back and relaxing - sort of, is Sponge Bob or Timmy Turner really that relaxing? Not for me, but the fire is therefore I can deal with the obnoxious cartoons.

Unfortunately, Bubba has been home sick from school the past two days. Sore throat and fever. Dang flu bugs. I do hope he is better tomorrow.

We're going out to dinner with the fam-damily tomorrow night to celebrate all 4 of the November birthdays (me, my mother AND father in-law and Miss I) then I get to go out, for my birthday, with one of my work girls.... it should be a lot of fun! I wish Mission Ridge was open and they had music on Saturday, that would be perfect, but we'll find something to do, somewhere to go.

It's weird, I always felt left out of birthday stuff in my household of origin, everyone else had March birthdays. Now I'm on the total opposite side of that and My Honey is the odd-man-out. Poor thing.

More

Maybe because I totall felt like crap today, I wanted to see more fall pictures. Thankfully I was able to cut out of work early (I know, rough life, take 18 days off and then go home sick, pathetic!)

Enjoy the pictures.

Real

I went on a creative excursion this afternoon.
It was a very nice day, a tad chilly - you know, 40's - but beautiful anyway.
Here are my treasures.

The Long Story

I had this great idea to sit here at my sister’s this morning and post some tales about Mexico. OOPS, forgot to get logged onto their internet. So, I guess I will just write it up and copy/paste it later at my Dads.

I took the kids west for Halloween. We’ve done it for the past two years (this makes three) and it’s a lot of fun, plus it’s a great chance to see the grandparents before the weather gets too bad.

The trip over was pretty uneventful until about 5 miles before our turn off where we got caught behind a tree that was blocking all lanes of travel. Bummer. But the kids did pretty good through the 30 minute wait and then we were on our way. I decided to go all the way to Bremerton to stay overnight with my sister and then head back to Issaquah today. It’s a long drive to Bremerton. 5 hours. It will be about an hour and a half back to Issaquah. Hopefully we can catch a ferry, I told the kids we would ride on the boat, but we weren’t in time yesterday so we went around. I’m not sure what time we will leave so it might not work out today either. (Update: We did catch the boat, the kids LOVED it!)

They play pretty well together too. Yesterday there was a friend of my nephew’s over so the 4 kids played and played for several hours. Today its just my two and my nephew. Unfortunately that leaves Miss I out of lots of stuff, but she handles it pretty well. Plus, its warm here, compared to the east side of the mountains anyway. We left 35* weather and its probably high 40’s here. (Update: it was actually in the 60's!!)

Onto Mexico. Our cruise left out of San Diego. We woke up Sunday morning to see one huge-ass boat outside our hotel room window. WOW! The cruise line people are very organized. It was amazing how many people they got through in a short amount of time.

Our room was … a room. It had a king size bed (nice!) and a balcony (really nice, go for the balcony!) The ship was very gaudy. Lots of gold, and marble, and painted ceilings, and busy carpet. Not a quiet place anywhere – well, except our room. The pools were interesting lots of colorful tile, the water was sucked in from the ocean so it was very salty, and the water sloshed out a lot! The casino was pretty nice, a little bit of everything. The restaurant we frequented was also nice, the service outstanding and the supper club was fabulous! We found a nice little bar we liked where they remembered us after only two visits (they are amazing!).

There was also a disco, yes, we went once to say we had gone, but all they were playing was Michael Jackson. There was a theater where they did shows every night, bingo several times a day and other large group presentations. Our first night we had a comedian I had seen on Comedy Central, one night was a guy singing big-band-type songs and another night was a juggler/comedian, he was funny too. I missed the magic show due to SEA SICKNESS. Yeah. I was totally in denial. I probably could have prevented it, but I refused to believe that I was actually sea sick so I didn’t take any medicine. OOPS. I paid later. For the rest of the trip I took a little pink pill every day! I still can’t believe I get sea sick. I love the water, I love boating. Stupid.

The ports of call were Acapulco, Ixtapa and Manzanillo. They were all very different from each other. Acapulco was very colorful, lots of people accosting us on the street selling everything. At Ixtapa they had to boat us into the city on tenders to do any sight seeing. It was a much nicer city, cleaner, less people harassing us. And Manzanillo was also kind of dirty, but the ocean was full of huge waves. 6-8 footers. (LSL, you would have LOVED IT.) It felt pretty safe, the water was warm (probably 80* or warmer) and that was the place I relaxed the best I think. The day was not too warm, but overcast and it was just very nice. Again no one harassing us unless we wanted to be harassed and there were bits of black sand too. Apparently there are two volcanoes nearby. They also do a sea turtle rescue in Manzanillo.

That was one of the cool things they did on the excursions. They would hire these guys to tell you about the city as you were going to your destination. I am pretty sure they took us the long way around to get everywhere, somehow it took at least an hour and a half to get there, but only 20 minutes to get back. That part of the excursions felt like a rip-off, but the tour guides were usually very funny and knew a lot about their town. But I was more in a “get me to the beach” mode than “take me on a two hour tour of your town and tell me stuff I could care less about” mode. But it all worked out. Like My Honey said, they knew us gringos shouldn’t be on the beach for more than a coupe hours anyway so they stalled getting us there.

Since its October, they also had a dress up night. No, we didn’t dress up, but you should have seen some of the costumes! Strawberry Shortcake and Blueberry Muffin, a Greek god and goddess, the crew of Gilligan’s Island, the Adams Family, the Mad Hatter and his Pixie – strangely, Pixie had a male voice …. And the winner was a gal in a white robe with one of the towel animals on her head. She was great. It was a lot of fun.

We didn’t really “meet” anyone, we sat with a few different people and chatted a few times, but really we were just there to hang with each other. It would be fun to do a cruise with a group though, but maybe not for 8 days!

And that was the cruise. Very relaxing, very colorful, very fun! There are a lot more stories, how I wheeled & dealed with the "businessmen" on the beach, stories about the shows, stories about my many trips to the spa and our bar bill, but I will save that for face-to-face visits.

Luckily, I came back with a LOT of days off until I have to go back to work so I can get acclimated to my real life :)

Teaser

I will get around to telling stories about the trip. But just let that take you there, Manzanillo Mexico, for awhile.

It was beautiful. The ship rocked - literally. We just missed hurricane Rick. I might have puked. I did not smoke. I danced, I drank and I dressed up. And I dressed down. It was a good time. VERY relaxing.

When is the last time you had you bed made TWICE A DAY for you? When was the last time your bed was messy enough to be made twice a day?

When was the last time you had breakfast delivered to your bedroom door every day for a week?

When was the last time you could choose what time to go to the dining room for dinner, be seated by the nicest, most polite woman named Svetlana, who remembered your favorite table (and the quirky way you arranged your chair,) the drink guy (solmnier?) that remembered you liked mojitos, the waiter, Romeldo, and his trusty team of Romelio and Chris who looked after your every need - forks, bread, butter - and could really cut a rug? PLUS, you didn't have to prepare, clean up or even do much more than point at "prime rib" on the menu?

Really spoiled, that is what I have been for the past 8 days. My real life sucks! Kidding, it's not that bad, but the fantasy life of "cruising" could be addictive!

Day 1

San Diego was beautiful yesterday!

I'm not much for flying, and our last 10 minutes into Seattle SUCKED. But otherwise a very easy travel day.

It was in the high 70's in San Diego, we wandered around in shorts all afternoon, had a nice lunch at the place in the picture, and crashed pretty early - we'd been up since 3am.

Now, we're just passing time until we can get on the boat. IT'S HUGE and sitting right outside our window!! The Holland America boat was out there yesterday, and I must say that our Carnival boat is much larger and I'm getting pretty excited!

EEEEK!!!!

We fly out tomorrow morning!
I'm not sure I'm ready, but I sure am ready,
Adios Amigos! Hasta in a week-a...

5-4-3-2-1

We are getting there. Guess what happened? The weather changed. We were at the park just last week playing in the water and now it is supposed to snow. WTF! Snow in mid-October? Maybe once in my lifetime we've had snow in late October, and many times by my birthday next month, but on the 13ht or 14th of October. Not that I know of.

It makes leaving town a little more appealing. Although, leaving town has appeal all its own anyway! In fact, the week we get back there isn't any school on Wednesday, Thursday OR Friday right before Halloween so there might be a trip to Issaquah in my future! The kids love going there for Halloween, so I think we'll do it.

I had my first "real" day shift today where the Admin was actually at work. Boy, I miss night shift. It didn't take me long to forget the crap-calls, paperwork and other minor annoyances of day shift.
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Here Kitty, Kitty.
Bubba wants a kitten. I don't know where it comes from, but he wants a kitten. Heaven help me! I've only ever had one cat. Her name was October, Toby for short. She was an excellent cat and I don't know if another one could live up to my expectations. I think I will use "maybe when the dog is gone" as a way to put it off.

Which reminds me of a Bubba story.
About two weeks into school he had a girl, D, that he talked about a lot. I remembered, and liked (read: approved of) D from 1st grade.

One day after school Bubba asked if D could come over. So she did and they played for awhile and it was all good. I'm trying not to concern myself with boy-girl play dates because whats the use? They're just seven-going-on-eight year olds.

A few days after that I am driving him to Karate and he tells me "something sad happened at the ball-wall." ("Ball-wall", you had one on the playground, the place where you met your friends. At my elementary school it was the trees or the big-tires... we all know what goes on at the "ball-wall" the worlds problems are solved and first kisses happen.) I brace myself and ask what happened.

"Just a minute, let me think" he says as he lowers his head down and takes a deep breath. So I give him a minute.

He raises his head and says "Me and D ... we ... we" and he puts his hands together in front of his face and makes a motion like he's breaking a stick in half.

"You what? You're going to have to use your words, I can't see you very well and I don't understand what that means." I tell him from the front seat.

"We broke. You know, broke up." AAAAHHHH, broke up. WHAT? You had a girlfriend?

"What does that mean, broke up?" I calmly ask him

"Well, you know, we aren't like that anymore, we're just friends. She said the love thing was too much for her." THE LOVE THING????? Oh my.

Needless to say, that has led to a lot of interesting conversations! What is love, what it means to break up, are they still friends? And a little teasing too.

Second grade. Yeah, I am sure I had a crush or two in 2nd grade. But I don't think we got into "going out" until later. Or maybe I didn't get into "going out" until later? Second grade. Imagine what life holds later.

Cound down

We leave for Mexico this week! Holy cow! Next Monday I will be sitting somewhere on a ship, hopefully in the sun, doing nothing. AAAAHHHHH!!!

I've been thinking about what to pack (shorts and tank tops) and what not to pack (too much) but what is too much? I really don't know. Will I need jeans? Maybe. Will I need something warm-ish? Likely. But how often? Socks? Closed-toed shoes? How many pair of shoes? Books! What about books? Music? What about new music on my iPod? So many dumb little things! It will all come together.

I have the child care arranged for the kids.
I have (lots of) time off work.
I have our passports, boarding information for our flights and the ship.
I think I will put My Honey in charge of getting money.
Our paperwork is in order if something happens. Just need to leave a note to let someone know where to find it if necessary.
Bills are paid.
What am I missing?

OH YEAH... I could clean the house. Total buzz-kill.

Last days

She was SOAKED! Both arms, both legs. We finally took off her shirt.

He was a little more cautious and had a meltdown when he misstepped and got his pants a little wet.


We went to the park yesterday afternoon, school got out early so we had a couple hours to kill. It was really nice, probably one of the last few nice days we will have.

Looks like they had fun, huh?

Bummer

It doesn't look like my week is going to go as planned. I was going to help Bubba's teacher tomorrow morning and then hang out in the kindergarten PE classes, but Bubba has a fever and unless he gets well, it's going to be wait on him the next few days and pray I don't get it! Thankfully he got it from Miss I so I already have one kid down! And the other grownup in the house has had his round too. Now if the Mom Super Powers kick in I will be good to go!

Have I mentioned its in the high 80's in Mexico?

One last night

*sigh* it's my last night shift.

Its been fun, very fun! Tiring, very tiring! I can't wait to do it again next summer. It confirmed that I don't suck as a dispatcher. Yeah, I was suffering a complex of sorts where I was feeling very inadequate. Turns out I'm not too bad.

It had its challenges: sleep, childcare, getting kids to their various activities, old and new personalities I had and hadn't worked with in awhile or ever. But it was all good. Now it's back to being an early riser. 2am, here I come. UGH!

Fortunately, its only a two week stint, getting up at 2, then I am on vacation for a couple weeks (Mexico here we come) then two more months and my schedule changes again. 4am will be my new wake time. That will actually be really nice working 5am to 3pm.

And yeah, Mexico. We're going on a cruise in a couple weeks. I am getting very excited for that! Very! Excited! I borrowed so me very cute, very sexy? Yeah, sexy dresses (I know, me in a sexy dress?!!!) I'm already thinking about spending the days by the pool, maybe getting a massage, a facial, my nails done. Gambling a bit, oh yeah and getting my eat and drink on. Can you imagine someone doing, bring and pampering me for a week? Me either. I. Can't. Wait.

Weekend notes

Its kind of a goofy looking picture, whatcha gonna do with a cell phone? But that's Bubba's new haircut. Short, short, short. He loves it tho so what is a mom to do?


That is Miss I climbing the rock wall at the school's open house. How cool is it that elementary schools have rock climbing walls in the gym now? She climbed all the way to the top of the thing without any trouble.

My Honey has been out of town golfing since Thursday so its been me and the kids. I had the weekend off and considered leaving town, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. Too much work. I don't think I have sat at home for the weekend in awhile. I didn't get much done, lawn mowed, one of the trees got a haircut, kids got haircuts, and I went out Saturday night ...

Saturday Night. I don't "go out". It's not my scene, never has been, although I do have fun when I get there. My girl DW had a birthday last week so we were meeting to celebrate. Good times. Turned out that a few people I graduated with were also at the bar, a couple people I know from hockey (yes they is trying to recruit me again) and then a group of people I worked with once upon a time were there celebrating my friend Rachel's birthday. That was actually karma. I planned a dancing birthday party for her many, many years ago that I ended up not getting to go to (I know, how lame) and there we were on her birthday dancing. Yeah, you read that right, I danced (again). It was fun. The morning after... manageable.

There's so much else to the bar scene. The drama, the drinking, the boys and the girls, the girls and the girls. Different than my real life. But what struck me was how many of those folks I actually know. Once upon a time it would have been like going to a new city, last night it was like hanging with 85 of my friends. I don't quite know how to explain it. Except to say me and my ego felt kind of cool to be acknowledged by 4 different groups of people.

It's the last day of my weekend, kind of, I don't work till 5 tomorrow night, and its my last week of night shifts. If it wasn't so dang much fun I would be sad, but its really, really fun. I'm gonna miss it. Only 9 more months until I get to do it again.

Thoughts on the Tri

I have been wanting to get into words on "paper" about what the triathlon was like.

I don't know if I can even come close in one sitting, let alone a few days of tyring to work it out. But I will give it a go and see what happens. (note: it took nearly two weeks)

It is actually a ten-year journey getting to the triathlon this past July.

In 1999 I watched an iron man event in Hawaii (on TV) and became mildly obsessed. I searched the web, found training plans, a "tri-a-tri" event nearby and went for it.

At the time I was already active, teaching 3 aerobics classes per week, and I thought that adding biking and running wouldn't really be that big of a deal. I recruited my sister-in-law to ride with me and I took on running on my own. I'm still not good at running, but I try. Running has been the most work. Finding a rhythm and sticking it out when the cramps start. I remember the first time I ran through a cramp and the feeling afterwards.

I didn't worry about the swimming, I don't have any water fears and I didn't think I was a sucky swimmer. Truthfully, I had no idea what kind of a swimmer I was. Fast, slow, no idea. I've never competed in anything before so I didn't even have any measure of what kind of an "athlete" I was. Or if I was an athlete at all. As I checked my stats for the individual disciplines I find that I don't suck as a swimmer, I placed 7th overall in my age group of 46 participants. (And that was in really crappy water conditions, too.)

About 6 weeks before the race I went mountain biking, crashed, and broke my collar bone in half, and cracked my shoulder blade. Needless to say, I didn't get to race. It also caused a halt in my teaching. I resumed teaching late that summer and then in November that year I got a new job. With the job came a screwy schedule, less access to working out (it wasn't part of my job anymore) and a desire, but disinterest in working out. I continued to think about a triathlon, even wanted to train again, but never got around to it.

Then I had a kid. Then the organization I worked for reorganized. Then I had another kid. Although I continued to think about it, I never got back into the groove of working out regularly or training.

Until this past year. I wouldn't say I was working out "regularly" but I did get back into working out. It's on-again, off-again, but I am doing it. So I figured I could do run/bikes/swim workouts and maybe do a triathlon.

In the past 5-7 years there have been triathlons in my area. I have watched some of them be very successful and others fail miserably. The past 2 or 3 years the Chelan Man Multi-sport event has taken off. I mentioned it to one of my work-girls that I run around with, JP, and she was all over it! "Lets do it, when do we register, what do we do, here's some books I got at the library." She caught the bug bad and it was contagious. So we signed up. She/we attempted to recruit several of our co-workers, but they didn't bite. There are a few on board for next year though!

We tried to workout together, but only managed a few swims and a run due to our totally opposite schedules, but we encouraged each other in our individual pursuits and agreed to run our own race in the end - meaning we'd look out for each other, but it wasn't about doing the race together, and it didn't matter who "won" it was about finishing. And we did finish!

I must say that finishing was kind of anti-climactic. I don't know if I can describe it. I swam, went through the transition to bike, met up with JP and started up the hill. We rode a bit together and then split off. I passed her on the way back we gave each other a "you go girl" and I continued back to the transition to the run. The transitions are interesting places. All the racers go to a central location to get their next set of gear. There are a few people around, mostly racers, just minding their own business getting ready for the next leg of the race. I changed my hat and headed out on my run. Again, I passed JP and we exchanged another "you go girl" and I headed for the finish line.

Once across the finish line I guess I felt kind of lost. Here I was at the end, a nice group of race people cheered me through, but then what? Nothing. That was the anti-climactic part. No one was there to congratulate me. I'm not whining. That's just the part, as I look back, that was the most disappointing. I changed my shoes, and went to wait for JP. Lucky for me, I knew the deputies at the road block so I just stood around chatting with them while waiting for her. We ran the last part of her race together, I cut around the finish line so she could have her own finish.

We wandered around the park afterward and then got our gear and headed home. My friend Pauly describes the day after really well, he says "it was just like a really hard workout." Exactly. Finishing was kind of like that too. I feel great about pushing myself and doing the race, fully intend to do another one or two next summer. But I don't know what to do about the finish line dilemma. I guess my ego needs a cheering section. Shame on her!

There's more. There's the part where I had to run and ride without music. They don't allow iPod's and the like during the race. (Sheesh, just because part of it is on the highway...) That meant I had to focus on something else, the scenery, the road, the person ahead of me - varoom, I mean behind me! The Lake, the lines in the road, the terrain, my breathing. Very different than my workouts.

There's the day we went to the Lake to swim for the first time in the open water. It was the most exhilarating thing ever. The feeling I had when I was done was, literally, something I could feel on my skin. It was tingly like I've never experienced before. Sort of like when you play outside in the snow and then come into the house where its warm and your fingers tingle, only it was all over. My arms, my legs, my face, back and feet. For hours.

Seeing the sand and rocks at the bottom of the lake instead of the lines on the bottom of a pool, seeing trees when I took a breath instead of concrete or a buoy line was a really wicked experience. Breathtaking. Being a part of someone's break through. Honoring.

For me, its a whole-life experience. I wonder if that makes sense to anyone else? 10 years is a long time to chase a dream. Even a little one - seriously, what's two hours of my life? But it continues to slowly change my world view and my self view. It's one of those things I can say I did. A dream I had, that I followed through and had success at. Finishing was my goal. I succeeded. I need a few (more) of those stories.

It challenges me to try other things that are scary or absurd-sounding - I had one person say to me "What? A triathlon, I never thought of you as the athletic type" neither did I. Just goes to show you :) I learned about another person's triathlon experience I never would have known about. I had others say "Wow, I have always wanted to do one of those." Those are the ones we are recruiting for next year! And I had a super supportive husband "Babe, you need to get up and ride today. ... What day are you running this week? ... You swimming tomorrow morning?" My Honey was very good to me.

All-in-all it was a great experience, but race day is only a small, almost the smallest part, of it. It's the getting there that is really the part that keeps popping up in my mind I guess. The process. The path. The struggle. That part.

Fall - HA!

Take that Fall!

It's been 85-90 degrees the past 3 days. I think it might have been 100 today! I love summer weather. I took the soft top off the Jeep the other day to enjoy the last little bits of summer. I even put the car seats in the Jeep, since My Honey is out of town till Sunday, so the kids and I can soak up the last bits of summer. Ahhhh :)

And, I have the weekend off. And, I have a babysitter Saturday. And, I have Dead Guy Ale in the beer-fridge. Life is good.

One of the things I like about my job is the variety. It's never the same thing. Ever. Today I participated in an exercise (off site) intended to test the emergency response plan for a local PUD. I love these things. I don't know why, but I do. Then I had the opportunity to check out the new special operations mobile command post for one of our sheriff's offices. VERY COOL. I made several requests to be put on the list to dispatch out of that beauty of a command post. WOW! Very WOW. I don't even know how to describe it. They took a 5th wheel, gutted it, ordered anything a special response team and dispatcher would need to go live and that's whats in it. Nothing special to Joe Public, but to us dispatchers, WOW! Not sure what the field guys think, I was touring with the guy that ordered it (who thinks it's the baddest thing ever - duh) and a Sargent who really has no use for it, but went along with how cool it is, but from a practical standpoint for my job - looks like it would work really, really well! I hope I get the chance to try it. It could happen.

Afternoons

I am an afternoon person, if I have eaten breakfast. I took the kids downtown today for the Harvest festival. Truth be told, I wanted to listen to Fat Happy so I made them go too since My Honey was golfing. There was a whole lot of stuff to see downtown, we ran into lots of little friends, an old grade-through-high school friend of mine, and the Wild mascot! There was a lot to see and do but I was distracted by the clock, I have to work at 5, all I could think of was that we should go so we could get a nap in plus, I hadn't eaten so my mood turned sour rather rapidly and none of the fun things seemed fun to me.

All-in-all it was fun, Miss I's favorite part was dancing to the band, and dance she did! Bubba's favorite part was seeing the Wild mascot, Walt. We did make it home in time to get a short rest/nap in so it all worked out.

I know, relax, go with it! I try, I really do.


What I wish is I could have taken some time for more of these:

Mornings

I am NOT a morning person. Ever. Anything I have to do before 10 is just a pain in my ass. Unfortunately I live with nothing BUT morning people. My kids, My Honey, they all like to get up and get going. Most of the time they will just get up together and let me sleep, but today My Honey is golfing so I am stuck getting up early.

My first wake up call today came at 6:15 when My Honey's alarm went off for golfing. The next wake up call was about an hour later when Miss I woke up. I told her to lie quietly with me or go play in her room. She chose her room, but on the way woke up Bubba. They played pretty well for awhile together and then Bubba asked if they could go watch TV - of course! Have at it!!

I hear the TV go on but I am also hearing chairs scrape on the floor in the kitchen and water running. I assumed they are getting water ready for hot chocolate and I figured I would get up when I heard the microwave go off. But it never did. The next thing I know Bubba is telling me that my favorite Disney show is on (Little Einsteins) and my coffee is ready. Coffee?

That got my attention. I went downstairs to find Miss I doing dishes and the coffee pot perking away. I asked Bubba how he made the coffee and he tells me "I did 12 ounces, I wasn't sure how much you wanted." That sounds perfect, but how much coffee grounds did you put in? "Three scoops." Well, what do you know, he did it just right. My little boy makes a good cuppa joe.

So the question begs to be asked: Why am I taking early morning shifts? For the sake of my family. I LOVE working nights but I don't see the family enough. Just 9 more shifts and back to getting up at oh-dark-thirty. Work-wise, I am not looking forward to it (booooring). Life-wise it will be very nice.

I don't think I have even mentioned how much FUN it's been working nights. I got everything I wanted - pursuits, stolen vehicles, fights in progress, awesome fires, requests for "emergency traffic only" on my radio. Fun stuff. Day shift just doesn't quite measure up to that. Plus, Thursday and Friday off rocked! I can't wait till January when I go back to those days off and I don't have to work till 5am. I think it will be pretty nice.

Coming up next month, we (just me and My Honey) are going on a cruise to Mexico.
I. Can't. Wait.

Opening weekend

We had a lot of fun at hockey games this weekend!
My sister, nephew, our kids, My Honey and I went to games on Friday and Saturday night. It might have been too much for the kids, but not for the adults and not for the team. They won both nights!! Way to go guys!

Of course no pictures of the game, sometimes I am embarrassed to pull out my camera and start clicking away...

Fair '09

"Yellow Cactus"

"Butterfly" I know, not very original

"Chihuly's Boat"

I turned this one upside down and called it "Splash"


Chelan County Fair, here I come.
I named and entered these in the fair this afternoon - yay me

Finally

Really? Nearly 90 minutes to edit and download this photo? I hope that RAM comes in tomorrow!