Ahh, summery weather

If you happened to view my blog today and check my weather girl she would have told you it was in the 90's around here. In fact, its almost 9pm and its still in the high 80's. Gotta love Central Washington summers! I don't really think this heat wave will last for a long time, but its nice to have while its here. My kind of weather as My Honey calls it, yes it is. I can't wait for a free hour or so to sit outside with the headphones on (or not) and bake in the sun. Yeah, I know its so bad for me, but its so good for me too. Its a ritual, I can't live without it.

Speaking of sitting in the sun, I got a new bathing suit for this year, and the next few if I am lucky. Its hard to find stuff that fits me. I had a great suit from Land's End once and I never invested in another one after it wore out, until this year. I finally bought me a modestly cut long torso suit from Lands End in the tangerine color. The only problem might be the underwire. I really don't need it (TRUST ME) but its there, so I will need to wear it a few times to see if its going to bother me or not. I also bought some new tank tops from them. I tell you, they really make great stuff.

Its my 4-day weekend, I work one day then off for 6!! (Really, you could say I work one day in the next eleven, which sounds even better than 6 days off doesn't it?) Yay!! Tomorrow is a soccer game then a birthday party then nothing, probably play in the sprinklers again. Sunday, no plans so far, probably church then work in the yard if its not too hot. Monday and Tuesday are regular days - you know, school, karate and all that and then Wednesday back to work and tah-dah! Done with work for 6 whole days; off to the Islands! I hope the weather is decent. The 10-day forecast predicts it will be in the 60's with "showers" not a bad forecast. Not bad at all.

New Belt

He did it! Bubba passed his first promotional test. He is pretty proud, he took his new belt to school for sharing today.

He was a basket case all day yesterday anticipating weather or not he had passed. I tried to get him to rest and he dissolved into tears. He sat with me just bawling, "I need to be held, just hold me Mom." It was heart breaking, all because of the possibility that he might not have passed. Of course it was me that put the idea out there... He was thinking it but I put words to it and made him talk about it just in case. I wasn't quite sure how to deal with the possibility so I just talked about it straight out. I am not sure if it was the right thing to do or not. But at least we were prepared. Fortunately we didn't have to deal with disappointment.

Miss I and I were able to get another walk in today. Its been getting nicer in the mornings which is great. She doesn't much care for the stroller but I kept yanking leaves off the trees and giving them to her to look at. "OOOh, mama, kanks."

Her language is developing but its no where near what Bubba was at 2 1/2. He was carrying on adult conversation about anything with big words. We are lucky to get her to say much at all. Oh she is constantly talking, it just doesn't make much sense to us. We try and so does she, but its really all gibberish. And the things she can say she says over and over and over and over and over. "Mama. Air daddy go?" "Mama. Air Ee-ry go?" "Go bye bye?" "Goo day?" all morning long. (Translation: Mama, where did daddy go? Where did Harry go? They went bye bye? Will they have a good day?) Its cute but it gets old. We must have had the same conversation for an hour this morning. Crazy child. But once it develops into real words watch out world, she won't be ignored!

I got an interesting thing in the mail yesterday; a publisher offering me a copy of a book authored by a friend of mine. This gal has wanted to be published since she was in grade school! She always wrote great stories and it looks like she finally got a book complete and I guess its going to be published. The last time I talked to her was last fall and she told me she was nearly done but I had no idea! I can't wait to read it! I know it will be good.

Back to work tomorrow, nothing too exciting going on this week. Oh wait, we get to tour the animal shelter tomorrow. Why you ask ... well thats a good question. I guess it will give us an understanding of their operations which will be useful when... um ... sometime I am sure! It is an opportunity to get out of the office for a couple hours so I won't crab about it too much thats for sure. The rest of the week should be pretty mellow, no major events in town, no overtime scheduled, no holidays to contend with and I am on vacation countdown. Just 6 more shifts till I am off for nearly a week! Yay!

Ahhhh

Its so nice outside! I wish I had a couple hours to take a book out and read with the sun making me squint and get a touch of a tan. But, the kids will only be down for another 30 minutes or so, I have not taken a shower yet today and I need (and I mean NEED) to clean up around here a little. My Girl Friday didn't make it last week so its been awhile since things were spruced up. She may be able to make it this week, but its still pretty bad around here. I need to vacuume and clean the bathrooms. I mean REALLY.

The weekend was nice. I took off early on Saturday to go to Bubba's game, he did pretty good. I think he was tired after such a big week. Afterwards we went shopping for Mothers Day stuffs. My Honey usually gets his mom some kind of flower something, we found a very nice hanging basket at a new greenhouse in town. It is so pretty! And he treated me to some new plants so I spent that afternoon planting new stuff in the front yard. Saturday night I took my mom out to dinner. We had a nice time just the two of us. Sunday I worked, but my sister in law took care of dinner for all of us. She made this really great chicken dish with asparagus and a pasta salad that was to die for. MMMM.

This week has a few things going on, Karate today (Bubba should be getting a new belt from the promotional test on Thursday last week), soccer practice some time this week, Karate on Wednesday, a couple evening things for me and My Honey soccer game on Saturday and then the weekend. My long weekend! Plus, I just heard its supposed to be in the 90's here! Now thats what I'm talking about!!!

While My Honey was away on Friday all the "other people" with him were texting their friends (and the people sitting right next to them), so he texted me off and on all day. It was pretty fun! I was impressed that he made the effort (thanks!) and that he's kept it up. Unfortunately it may require a new phone, one with a keyboard on it instead of having to use the number keys. I am such a dork, it takes me forever to text! Maybe I just need practice!

Nearly Done

Well I made it through Friday too!

It was a busy afternoon. I got off work, went to the MIL's house to get the kiddos for awhile. Took Miss I back to grandmas, where she is spending the night, around 5, took Bubba to soccer practice. I had the opportunity to get to know one of the moms a little better (since we were the only two families there besides the coach). She is a very neat gal, a free-spirit-type, which is always fun to me because it is so NOT me. I just can't fly by the seat of my pants all the time, maybe 1/2 of 1 percent of the time, but not much. It stresses me out! Plus I am not that creative!

After returning Bubba to Grandmas house to spend the night I went to Costco and then went home to unload my few perishable purchases before I went to go for a run. OOPS! I remembered that I needed bananas and a few other items (for tomorrow) from Safeway so I had to do that shopping and then it was already 7:30.

I nearly went for that run, I might be sorry I didn't, but I just couldn't bring myself to leave the house again. Plus it was windy and getting chilly out. I know, I know what a wimp. So my back-up plan is to try and go tomorrow since I will have most of the day off. I committed to seeing all of Bubba's games so I took 1/2 of tomorrow off for his morning game which leaves me with the afternoon free - well, you know what I mean. Our plan is to go out for lunch after the game. Bubba has been asking all week to eat out in a "real restaurant, you know like Red Robin" instead of McDonalds. So thats our plan, we all deserve it after this week.

My Honey is out of town, the kids are at Grandmas so I have the QUIET house to myself. Its always nice to have no TV, no kids, nothing but me my thoughts and a cold one. Tonights choice is a Fat Tire amber ale. Ahhhh.

I want to comment on this book I just finished. It is called Verbal Abuse: Healing the Hidden Wound by Grace Ketterman. It was a very good book that covered a lot of ground regarding verbal abuse. This book was loaned to me, but I think I am going to buy my own copy, there was a lot of good stuff in it that I will want to refer back to time and again. I would recommend it to just about anyone because we can all think of a time when they were a victim or an abuser. It clarified what verbal abuse is, how it affects families, work places, churches and social groups and how to break the cycle for yourself.

I know my family of origin has been in bad cycles of this before, I can't honestly say who broke the cycle but I know for me it's done, I don't take the comments of some of my family members quite as hard now as I did growing up, I know when to walk away and/or keep my mouth shut so that the comments stop. I have worked very hard to take sarcasm out of my response pattern inside my family, but reading that book made me realize that I am not done with this issue. I still have a lot of work to do. I still say things that are demeaning, unfair or cruel at work and at home. Its sad. Its gonna take more work. Thankfully I can see a lot of progress from years past and thats encouraging. Anyway, the book was really good.

Nearly Done

Well, its Thursday. We have nearly made it through the week. Today was BUSY! Work, karate promotional test quick dinner and then a Kindergarten music program. I took some video of both events, but I don't know if its post-able. I mean, would it be worth posting, because its just in snippets and would others get it if they weren't there? I will look into editing some of the stuff I video'd this weekend and see if I can get something together thats worth anything.


The promotion test went pretty good. Did he pass? I don't know. I have no idea how they "score" these things. I called to talk to one of the instructors to see if it was even worth doing and he said that they would have talked to us if he wasn't going to pass. As I watched him I kept thinking "there's no way" but as I reviewed my video snippets I guess its possible. I may be to critical. (Gee, ya think? Did it only take me 37 years to figure that out?)

The Kindergarten music program was a crack up! They did really well singing all these cute songs I have never heard. Several of them were alphabet songs, and a few others. It lasted all of 45 minutes. Not bad!

More later, it's a bit past my bed time and I could really use the sleep.

I'm trying

I'm just not feeling it. I am trying to get motivated to write and its just not there today. Not sure why. Its beautiful here today, maybe I am too distracted by the 80 degree weather?

I have been going to a Bible study on Monday nights with my sister in law. This session her sister in law is going with us. We all meet at my sister in laws house and walk to the church since its just a few blocks away. Its been a nice way to get to know the girls and its also very refreshing to get just a taste of fresh air each Monday night. Its funny, I have known both these girls for 17 years but we have never hung out together. I am glad we are getting the opportunity now.

Its back to work tomorrow. It's my long work week, we have a soccer game tomorrow, Bubba has an opportunity to do a promotional test for Karate and a Kindergarten music program both on Thursday. My Honey is going out of town Friday, and a soccer game on Saturday. Its looking like a busy week.

I don't think we are going to do the promotional test. First of all its forty bucks and second, I don't know if he's ready for that kind of thing yet. I understand that not many people skip the promotional tests when they come up, but I don't see much value in it for him right now. I should probably talk to the instructor about it. Selfishly, it would make Thursday a lot easier, but if hes not gonna pass to the next level anyway I am gonna keep my forty bucks and my sanity.

I took the kids to the park for lunch yesterday because it was so nice out. I picked up Bubba from school, swung by McDonalds and then headed to the park. Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me so no pictures. But they had a nice time. We went down by the water for a few minutes too. Unfortunately the park we went to doesn't have any toys, but that worked out okay because it was close to Miss I's nap time anyway.

Lastly, I feel totally inadequate today as a parent. I can't seem to do anything right (in the eyes of my kids anyway). Heaven help me make it through this week!

Busier than I thought

Wow! Has it nearly been a week? I've just been plain ol' busy I guess.

Work, karate, work, work, facial, mix up in transportation plans, soccer game, work, fat fest at the park, checking out henna tattoos, night off, work, and finally the weekend. The weekend consisted of the pre-parade fun run, fat fest in the park, watching the parade, getting a henna tattoo, more parade, an attempt at a nap and then a 12-hour overtime shift. And now here I am, late Sunday morning thinking "where'd the week go?"

The overtime shift was good. Busy! I loved it. I miss working nights. As if I am going to go to a night shift... Not likely. Days are working out just fine. It was the Big Festival Weekend so theres lots of crazy kids out there drinking and cruising and that kind of stuff.

I had the strangest thing just happen, it was a phone call from a name that I didn't recognize, but was a local number. I answer and it's one of Bubba's classmates asking for him. So I go get Bubba. I know he is going to be excited about this phone call because its his newest obsession; The Cool Kid.

We have had several conversations lately about this kid, most of them sound like this "Can I have ----- because The Cool Kid has one?" So The Cool Kid invited him over to play this afternoon. Fun stuff. It was kind of funny though, the kids seemed to be making their own plans so when Bubba handed me the phone I asked for T.C.K's mom to make sure that we were all on the same page. Thankfully we were. He had already asked her and she had said yes, so we're off to a play date in an hour. He is SO excited! The timing couldn't be better either. Miss I will be napping, Bubba will be playing so My Honey and I can each get some quiet time. Nice.

About time

Have you noticed my little weather girl? Isn't she cute? I think it must be what has made the weather here nicer! The day I added her it started to warm up. Its finally in the mid-60's and 70's which is the way I like it this time of year. I really, really like the 90's and hundreds, but they're a few months away.

A much less busy week this week. Karate, facial with Auntie Portland, karate, soccer and a 12 hour overtime shift on Saturday. If this weather holds it could be a busy night .... I sure hope so! It will be fun to work a night shift and hang with some of my pals I don't ever see!

When our center combined we took folks from 4 agencies (two police departments and two sheriff offices) and all started to work together. We experienced some growing pains, but finally, nearly 4 years later we're doing alright. Throughout we've had some comings and goings of staff including several "originals" (people that came from the established agencies). Late on Friday night we sent an aid car for one of our originals that isn't dispatching anymore. We didn't know it was him at first, but found out later. Unfortunately he didn't make it. He had a heart attack and passed away later at the hospital.

I didn't work much with him, but people who did have been touched by his death. Its interesting though, the night before he had met up with a dozen or so people and to celebrate another dispatchers birthday. Several people had seen and talked to him. Fortunately they were people that had worked with him at his previous agency. It just worked out really cool if you ask me. Not that there's ever a "good time" to die, but knowing he had seen some of his buddies and for those who were touched by his death, that they had seen him recently, I think its made it a little easier.

Best Buddy and his sister will be spending a lot of time here for the rest of the school year. Their dad is at a training for a few weeks and then he moves into a new position so hes not available to take the kids to school in the morning. Its fun having them around. I will miss them a little in the summer - although I am sure they will be around here and there.
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I updated a couple posts with pictures. A few new ones from soccer and the Chief For A Day.

Review

Yes it was a busy week. The soccer games were good. Bubba gets a little more assertive each week, so does Miss I. She seems to think that if Bubba is playing on the field, she must too. Unfortunately the officials frown on a 2 1/2 year old playing soccer with the 6 year olds! She ran onto the field 2 times the other night which earned her a swat on the behind. The third time she went to the line, stuck her toe over, looked me straight in the eye, cocked her head to the side, scrunched up her cute little nose and said "me bah?" (translation "is this bad?") as she did this cute little wiggle with her body. Little booger.

Dinner with my girlfriends was fun. One of them was turning 40 so we went out to dinner at our favorite Mexican place. MMMM. Imagine that, I know 40-year olds. Ugh, that means I will be one soon.

Work has been pretty busy. Its the start of the festival so all the yucks come out, not to mention the weather has warmed up too. The Chief For A Day lunch was nice. Chilly, but nice.

And thats about it. One more day and then 2 off. Whew! This week has worn me out, I am looking forward to a couple days off.

Busy

We have soccer games tonight and tomorrow night and I have dinner plans for Thursday. Friday is clear so far, Saturday and Sunday I work. Sometime during the weekend Auntie Portland is coming to town so we are having family dinner in celebration of my oldest nephew's 17th birthday on Sunday. Seventeen. Do you remember seventeen? Maybe someday I will post what I remember about being 17....

As far as work goes this week, I only work a few hours tomorrow because I have a doctors appointment in the morning, so I decided to bag the rest of the day. Who wants to go back to work after her annual appointment? Not me!! Not sure what I am going to do with the rest of my day yet... I love a free afternoon.


I also took half the day off on Thursday to get in on the first of the Apple Blossom festivities. Its the "Chief For A Day" celebration tomorrow and I don't want to miss it. Local schools nominate students(usually elementary school age) with some kind of a disability, chronic or terminal illness to be Chief for the day. Winners are selected, they meet at the north end of town, ride in their agency-appropriate car and cruise lights and sirens to the park for lunch. The kids are decked out in agency-appropriate uniforms, they get name tags, stripes, a tour of the building that they are "in charge of" the whole nine yards. Its usually very cool. Bubba remembers the bag-pipers from last year: "Mom are the guys with the funny music going to be there again?" I am picking up Bubba at school and then heading to the Fat Fest in the Park for this event. Can't help it, I am drawn to cotton candy, funnel cakes and greasy spoon food. MMMMM.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday I have to work all day. Sheesh, what a life. Friday afternoon I have an appointment for a manicure and pedicure so that should be nice. All in all it will be a busy, but fun next few days! Welcome to Spring!

Potential

This orchardist might be mad at his foreman when he sees what happened overnight! Apparently his sprinklers were running even though it was freezing out. Now he has lots of damaged blossoms, not to mention the branches that might have cracked under the weight of the icicles. Although it made for a pretty photo, its too bad for him.

UPDATE: Apparently they do this on purpose!

No Way!

Again, here we go... more snow! Its not sticking, but what the heck? Its stinking April 20th, Apple Blossom starts on Thursday. Its supposed to be warming up and getting nice out by now! I guess in the grand scheme of things I would rather have it snow than rain all the time, but I am SO ready for nice, warmer weather to be here and stay! To work in the yard and take walks without freezing. To set up the pool, to bar-b-que and eat outside. Wear shorts and short sleeved shirts, tank tops, all that stuff. And to watch a soccer game without having to wrap up in a blanket, that would be nice too! Maybe next week. (Although, if the cold weather holds I may not have to work the whole 12 hour shift next Saturday night that I signed up for!)

Lucky, part III

I really didn't mean to do a series of "lucky" posts, but it just worked out that way. My part III post is about My Honey.

He's the best. Really.

He does laundry when it needs to be done, he walked me to an appointment yesterday afternoon - funny thing, my sister saw us walking hand-in-hand down the street and called to say how cute we were... awwww. He pries and pries and pries until I talk to him about what ever is bothering me (and thats no small feat). He loves me and our kids, he gives me space when I need it and love (lots of it) when I don't deserve it. He makes a mean Appletini (mmmmm) and is able to put into words the things that we need to work on and do better. He takes great care of the house and the yard and helps me with what ever I ask. He da man. And he recognizes when I need time away alone and lets me go. I am very thankful he's mine.

I have a couple stories from work to tell! I'm not in the mood tonight (if I hadn't corrected all my typo's you'd understand). So, later this weekend! It's my 4-dayer, I should have lots of time. But just in case I forget - tell them about the alarm and the tree in Lake Wenatchee.

Lucky. Part II

There is a HUGE pile of laundry that accrued while my sister was here because they were sleeping in the laundry/guest room.

I piled it in the living room to remind me to get it done today which was pretty effective! I worked on it this morning then at 11ish I picked Bubba up from school, met Auntie La La for lunch at McDonalds so Little Boy Cousin could run about before the 3 hour car ride and then came home, switched yet another load of laundry then rushed out to a 1:00 meeting.

My MIL came over to watch the kids while I was out. I came home and the first thing I thought of was getting another load in the washer but it was running. "Funny" I thought to myself "I thought it would be done by now." But there is plenty of other stuff to do so I didn't pay too much attention to it.

Bubba and I sat down to work on his homework packet and while we were sitting there Miss I woke up (too early) from her nap. Her little snuggly thing (we call it "Pinkie") was in the laundry so I ran down thinking it would be dry and I could take it to her to get her to go back to sleep. I opened the dryer to find the laundry still damp and no Pinkie in sight. "Odd" I thought "I am sure it was in the load I had in the dryer. In fact, I had reds in the dryer and these are white ..." I pondered this a minute and it occurred to me that maybe my MIL had switched and started another load of laundry. SHE DID! Not only that SHE FOLDED THE DRY LOAD!!! I gave Pinkie to Miss I, she is fast asleep and an extra load of laundry got done.

Am I lucky or what? I am. I know not everyone would think this is the best thing "YIKES!!! Your MIL touched your laundry?!!!" Not me. Bring on the servants! Fold my laundry? Please. Clean my shower? Double yes and thank you! Theres not much help around the house I refuse. EVER. Ironically I have a hard time asking for help with it. Go figure. Actually, when I think of it, I have a hard time asking for help with most everything.

They're back

Look, they're back, I found my links!! One of my girls thought I was mad at her because her link was gone, silly girl, I got nothing to be mad at you about!!

The Fam is on their way out today. I will be sad to see them go, Auntie La La did such a nice job doing all my chores! Honey, are we sure we don't want to put in a pool this spring? She said she would live with us take care of us this summer if there was a pool... Hmmm it might be worth it!

Unfortunately my sister and I didn't get to spend as much time together as I had hoped. I had to work so it was early to bed a couple nights, there was the birthday party on Saturday, work on Sunday and I had Bible Study on Monday night.

We shopped while Bubba was in school yesterday. Little Boy Cousin is into Legos. Totally into Legos. We found a few boxes of stuff from the Batman series that are apparently hard to come by and I bought a box of Mars Mission Legos for Bubba too. Talk about a great quiet time activity. The boys were playing with them and I snoozed while Auntie La La managed any mimi crisis that came up - which were pretty few.

All in all it was nice to have them here. I can't wait until they come back!!

Lucky

Sometimes I don't realize how lucky I am.

My sister is here to visit and I am so glad. Its my long work week and she is planning on taking good care of me and the fam while she is here. I agree with LSL that every one needs a sister and if you don't have one, you should get one! Adoption, shared custody, what ever you need, get one!

She brought over enchiladas so we could have a hassle-free dinner one night, she arranged a BBQ at the other sisters house tomorrow night and she is the Transportation Mama to Girl Cousin's birthday party tomorrow! What a gal, she sure is great! Thanks for coming over and making my weekend hassle free! Bless her heart too because the drive over wasn't perfect. One of the passes was closed for avalanche control for an hour or something. But she is a trooper and they made it here! Yay!

Around my house My Honey pitched in and cleaned the bathroom, worked on laundry and liquored me up to help out yesterday. Yes, you read that right "liquored me up." When we were out with his sisters a few weeks ago I tried an Appletini. MMMMMMMMM! Boy I like vodka drinks. A lot. Too much probably so I just buy the small bottles of vodka. Anyway, he encouraged me to sip (gulp) an Appletini last night too. And his mom, of course, she makes every week easier! She watched the kids for an extra 2 hours while I had my hair done yesterday. Completely unnecessary, but it was nice to spend some quiet time doing something for me. And she did transportation to Karate on Wednesday too. I am a lucky girl.

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Our first soccer game was on Wednesday. It was COLD. Poor Bubba was decked out in an extra coat, hat and gloves. The wind just wouldn't let us be. He did pretty good - for a kid without any experience except practice. Hopefully in the next few weeks the game will make more sense to him. The one thing he said about the game was that he didnt kick the ball. Well, as you can see from the picture, he wasn't ever near the ball.

On Tuesday night he was having a hard time sleeping. At one point I heard a whimpering/laughing noise coming from his room. I went to check on him and I found him face down on his pillow crying. "Whats up?" I asked him. "I don't want to play soccer. I don't like it. I don't want to play in the game. I just want to quit." Turned out he was worried about losing. "I don't want to lose" he wailed. Ah, so I told him that they aren't even keeping score. His tears dried up and he fell asleep in about 5 minutes. It was too funny all the drama!

Karma

Serves me right. I called out sick and didn't end up having a sick kid so now it's my day off and I have a sick kid. Poor Bubba has had a temp of 103.7 degrees (or higher) but no other symptoms. I'm not quite sure what to do with him except keep him quarantined. So he's stuck in my bedroom with only the TV for company. It's weird though that he has no other symptoms except this raging fever. It kind of put a kink in my plans for the day. A lot of the fruit trees are in bloom and I want some pictures, can't very well do that with a sick kid can I? Maybe tomorrow.

I sure hope Bubba is better by tomorrow, Wednesday is his first soccer game and there are birthday parties on Saturday and Sunday. PLUS my sister and her son are coming over on Friday. I would like him to have at least one recovery day before putting him out on the field in a game. Not to mention a few days to disinfect the house before company comes over. Another busy but fun spring week ahead! And it's just beginning. Apple Blossom will be here before we know it and then Memorial Day.

We are going to Guemes Island for Memorial Day to spend it with my Dad, his wife and family. I am really looking forward to it. I love the Island and I can't wait to see it in the spring. The only other time of the year I have been there is Thanksgiving. I can't wait. It will be a different experience. We usually all stay together in the Guemes House and for Memorial Day each family has our own cabins.

I was able to get runs in this weekend on Saturday and Sunday. It felt really good. Saturdays run took me to the same place as a few weeks back. For some reason I just feel a connection to that place right now. For Sundays run I started at a different part of the Park and headed north as usual. It was nice, a tad chilly, but nice. I started out walking, I wasn't feeling 100% but I ended with a run at the end. Good for me! I had wanted to get a run in today too, but with Bubba being home sick it didn't work out. Theres always tomorrow.

My mom was a doll and brought us some 7-up. I was nearly out of Motrin and didn't have any Tylenol so I went to the store before My Honey left for work, only I forgot the 7-up to mix with Pedialite for Bubba to drink so he is at least getting some kind of something. Thanks Mom!

I haven't really accomplished much today. I wanted to work in the yard while the kids slept, but I slept for awhile too! I did get some laundry done, took care of my sick-o kid and tried to give the well-child some attention too. Its a lot of work having a sick kid in the house. At least I got a shower taken!

Baseball camp

I got to hang out at Baseball Camp today. I called out sick for work because Miss I woke up at 11-ish last night with a fever. I (hoped) she would be sick all night so I called out, just in case. Wouldn't you know it she slept through the night and then woke up feeling just fine! Bonus for me, an extra day to start my 4-day weekend. (Theres a lot more to this story, suffice it to say it was probably better for me not to be at work today.)

I dropped off Bubba and watched a few minutes of their warm ups. Then I took off with my sister for coffee. When I returned they had the 25 or so kids separated into age-appropriate groups and they were doing all kinds of activities. They had one group fielding ground balls, one group pitching, another group hitting off a pitching machine, another from a person pitching and a group working pop-flys. I got there in time to see Bubba and Girl Cousin at each station. They did pretty good. The "coaches" were varsity players for the Panthers baseball team. They did a really good job making everyone feel good - especially the littler kids. I noticed they were a little harder on the bigger boys. Girl Cousin is a rock star! She was THE ONLY GIRL at camp and she rode it out! Way to go! Bubba was by far the least experienced (not to mention the smallest) kid at camp and he rode it out too. I was very proud of him that he participated in everything and tried his best. The only thing he didn't want to do was play Pickle Ball. Can't say that I blame him, I wouldn't want high school boys chasing me while throwing hard baseballs around either.

One of the last things they did was a game. They hit off a tee and ran the bases while the guys in the field played catch from 1st to 2nd to 3rd to home plate. My Bubba, bless his heart, hasn't ever played baseball before so the concept of "running the bases" was completely foreign to him. He headed for the base in front of him after he hit the ball ... oops thats 2nd, so one of the varsity guys ran him to 1st and then to 2nd and so on, each time he was up to bat. If it hadn't been so cute it would have been pathetic. What kind of parents are we anyway that our kid doesn't know about baseball??? It's un-American I tell you! Guess we're just the types that aren't really that interested in sports thats all. Turns out Bubba doesn't really like it either. He would rather play soccer "and Karate, thats the best."

Well, at least we tried.

Spring Break

So far so good. Girl Cousin has been here for the past couple days, we have made it to all our lessons on time... soccer today at 5:30 and I even got to spend a little time out last night with my SIL. I could really use some away time just alone, but that may be a couple weeks out. I do have a massage scheduled next week, that will be nice!

I had an appointment this morning so all the kids (my two and Girl Cousin) went to play at Best Buddies house. They must have had fun. No one was crying when I got there! BB has lost 3 teeth already during break. Its pretty cute, he's still speaking somewhat normal, but as soon at that fourth front tooth comes out he will be mister lisper!

The weather has gotten nicer too which helps, then the kids have one more place to play. Not much to report today, plus I am in kind of a mood, so thats it for now.

Bi-Polar Spring

We have had the most unusual Spring weather. SNOW.
Last week it was in the 60's, this week it is freezing cold with snow! Weird, weird, weird.

Its Spring Break week. Nothing planned at all. Well except that the girl cousin comes over every day except today, karate,soccer practice and base ball camp. Thats all. Sounds like we might have a soccer game Saturday too. So I guess it could be a busy week. And then theres work, I have 3 overtime shifts this week too. Maybe not such good planning looking back ... oops.



For the third, or is it fourth day in a row its snowing again! Weird I say, weird. I knew we weren't in the clear yet, I hadn't seen the blue jays return, but I had no idea we would actually get snow. I keep wondering what the Farmers Almanac says about this spring and summer...

A little wordy?

I have been trying to get onto Blogger for two days now and can’t seem to get signed in so I guess I will start this as a word document and then copy and paste it when I can.

Easter was …. Nice? Yeah it was. Auntie Portland was here with her 8 month old and husband. We went out to dinner with them and My Honey’s other sister and hubby on Saturday night. It was kind of funny all us kids out together. We usually sit around my MIL’s house and do our visiting there, but this time we left the kids home and went out like adults. It was fun. I enjoyed myself a lot! Uncle Portland was in rare form and made me laugh until I cried a few times, which I really needed.

Easter day was good. We got up, went to Church and then had lunch at my MIL’s house. I nearly forgot about the kids’ baskets! I had made them up, hidden them and then, when we got home on Saturday night Bubba was still awake and I couldn’t set them out. Sunday morning rolled around and I didn’t get up before the kids so I didn’t get them set out then either. I opted for the “have to run inside to get something” routine on our way to Church. THEN I forgot I had set them out. We got home from Church, putzed around the house until I finally went upstairs and then I remembered about them (because I nearly tripped on them) so I called Bubba and Miss I upstairs to see what they had gotten. They were thrilled! Miss I loved her stuffed animal, Bubba loved his comic book (I saved the Moon Sand for a treat during Spring Break). So the baskets were a success.

Monday and Tuesday there wasn’t any school (same with the rest of this week and next week too.) Monday I entertained us by going to the Y in the morning, where the kids played in the babysitting area and then Bubba had Karate that afternoon and Miss I got to spend some time with my mom. (Thanks Mom for watching her every week!!) Late Monday afternoon Bubba asked me what my “plan” was for Tuesday “what does your day look like tomorrow?” I told him I hadn’t planned anything, I had a massage in the morning and that was it. But I was thinking that some kind of adventure would be fun. He agreed that an adventure would be fun. He suggested a walk in the forest “where there aren’t any bears… or snakes.”

After my massage, lunch and naps we headed to Leavenworth to see what we could see. I had a plan of where I wanted to go, but the roads leading to Blackbird Island were all closed. You would think since I work in the dispatch center that has this information available on a daily basis I would know this, but I didn’t apply it to my plan so we ended up driving around for 15 extra minutes trying to get to where I wanted to go. Finally we ended up going to the Icicle. It’s a beautiful place, we parked where I usually park to cross country ski and walked a little on the trail. There was still a little snow, we could hear the river rushing nearby and hear lots of birds. I don’t know how far we walked, maybe 10 minutes each way, but it was nice to get out, see some nature. The kids liked it too.

Karate is going well for Bubba. He’s been in it for a couple months now and I can see a ton of improvement in his “kata’s” and his coordination. He starts soccer tomorrow and we are debating whether or not to do both at the same time. If its too much we’ll just do karate one day a week instead of two during soccer season. I also signed him up for a baseball camp, with his cousin, next week. Its going to be a busy but fun month!

In preparation for soccer and baseball camp I invested in some second-hand equipment. A new mitt and ball for baseball, a soccer ball, shin guards and cleats for soccer. (Thanks DW for the cleats!) Bubba has spent at least 10 minutes, sometimes up to 45 minutes at a time outside with his new equipment practicing. Its great! Its good for him to play outside (alone) and to be so interested in sports and to want to practice on his own. I love it. Who’d a thunk $50 would go that far! Our first practice is tomorrow at 5:30. Our coach is the dad of one of his classmates so that’s nice too. At least he will know one kid on the team.

Speaking of classmates, I heard from his teacher that this kid is a nice kid and his dad will do a great job coaching. We met with her last night for spring conferences. Bubba is still doing well. “He is ready for 1st grade” she tells us. “Can he start tomorrow?” I asked her. She laughed. I am not kidding. He needs a full day of activities and a little more challenge for his brain. Oh well, just a few months left, then a whole summer to forget!

Last Saturday was “Camp sign up day” at the Y. Its the first day to sign up for summer programs. Kids who sign up on camp sign up day get free t-shirts! So I signed Bubba up for a week of Adventure Club, the “going into first through fifth grades” summer day camp program. Its actually a lot of fun for the kids. They meet at the Y daily, and ride the Y bus to local parks, including a weekly trip to Slidewaters (that’s the day I want to volunteer). They are totally exhausted at the end of the day! It starts in the morning so My Honey can take him to work with him and I can work out then pick him up each day. It should work out very nicely. Not to mention what a nice break for Grandma!

Mistake?

At the time it seemed like a good idea ... throw away all the extra easter candy after I stuffed eggs. Now, a couple days later it seems like a really BAD idea. What I would give for the left over jelly beans and robins eggs right now!! I keep nibbling the kids stuff, but it will soon be gone too. Poor me.

Quiet time

Miss I is napping, Bubba is at his cousins baseball game, My Honey is playing golf and I have some quiet time.

Its been a hard, hard week. The second hardest in my marriage. The first was when My Honey had his heart attack 3 years ago. Oddly I feel the same peace and calm about our situation now as I did then. I have been gifted with faith, I guess, that will see me through. It has many times before, it will this time too.

My SIL watched the kids today so I could go Easter Bunny shopping. It was actually pretty fun. Bubba has wanted this Moon Sand stuff for a long time so I got him that and a new comic book. Miss I gets a stuffed animal and bubbles. Don't forget the candy and gum too! On my way to the Wal*Mart I was driving by the cemetery and stopped to visit a 22-year-old grave site. "Believe in your dreams" is inscribed on her headstone. I am feeling really melancholy and I wonder what are my dreams right now? Have I stopped dreaming for myself? It seems all my dreams are about or for my kids ... what about me, what about My Honey, what about us? What are our dreams?

I saw a counselor last week who suggested its time to "start working on the second half of your marriage." He couldn't be more right. Although I hope we have more than 16 years left together, I get what he is saying. We are just now starting to get into the busyness, we have to make each other a priority. Take time for us. The kids will be better for it, we will be better for it too.

Have some (cup) cake and eat it too

The house is put back together. Everyone is back to school and work, and life is normal again ... or not. Seems the time change made the kids crazy. Neither of them will go to sleep at a reasonable hour - by reasonable I mean 7:30 like they were doing. Hopefully it will be better next week. I am not sure I like this time change either, I preferred the sun earlier in the morning.

I truly think its one of the things that kept me from being really, really crabby this winter. I have seen the sunrise every day for the past 3 months or so. It seems to have made a difference. Not that I like morning mind you, not at all, but being able to watch the sunrise has been a pleasure. Thank goodness for a 3rd floor office with east-facing windows. I have seen some spectacular stuff, and some so-so stuff too. I am sure getting more than 4 hours of sleep a night is helping matters too!

Spring break is just around the corner too, and, as it turns out Bubba doesn't have school the week before spring break either due to conferences. TWO WEEKS OFF SCHOOL. What are the administrator thinking? Not only that, the two school districts in my area have different spring break weeks, so there is the "what am I going to do with my kid?" question flying around in my head. Two weeks is just too long! So... I have a plan. The first week is the week before Easter. Auntie Portland will be in town so that will be a good distraction. The second week there is a baseball camp sponsored by a local collegiate baseball team which Bubba happens to love so I am going to sign him up. Its only a few hours a day, but its something. Grandma agreed to take and pick him up on her days with him so it should work out pretty good. Plus the activity of the baseball camp will be a good segue into soccer which starts after spring break. Lucky kid, I wish I had been able to do all the stuff he gets to do! But that is a rant for another post another time.

Plans for the rest of the week:
• Attempt to get a workout in tomorrow and Friday after work, preferably outdoor run.
• Saturday night we have been invited to go to a benefit wine tasting for an organization a friend of ours directs. It should be a fun event, and a great local band is playing. I don't have any idea what to wear to a thing like this tho, any ideas?
• Sunday I would like to work some more in the yard. I started edging the front yesterday and got encouraged to do some more. I also mowed the pine tree needles and leaves up the other day so its looking really nice right now. Another use for my iPod, crank up the tunes when I mow.
• Maybe an outdoor run on Sunday.
Oh yeah and that little thing called work.

Clean up

"Clean up, clean up, everybody do their part..."
Everyone has gone home, its time to put the house back together. But first, lets start with me! I was able to go to my massage appointment today, but haven't gotten a shower in yet. Time to get that done and then tackle the house. Blankets, toys, laundry and re-arranging the bathrooms so I am ready for work tomorrow. If I am lucky I won't have to do the deep cleaning because my Girl Friday will be here this week. Lucky me.

My nephews birthday party was fun last night, pizza, which was easy, wine and dessert, the kids had cupcakes and we more mature adults had cheesecake. MMMMM. We were even graced with the presence of my little brother. I think he would really like to do more family things but we just don't think to call him. Hes 25 and seems to have finally reached a place in life where he is fun to be around and likable. He went through a decade of being a shit, and now it seems he has chilled out. I picked him up and he went to Bubba's karate class with us and then on to Moms house. It worked out pretty good and he was available on short notice so I think I will make more of an effort to invite him over once-in-awhile. Everyone needs family-time.

Alright, off to do housework.

Party

They're here. I got all the cleaning I wanted to done (well, almost, I didn't clean the upstairs bathroom, I figured why? Company wasn't going to use it!) then I mowed the lawns and I think that was it, well except for laundry. Laundry. Why does it always seem after I am all done with it theres another basket-full? And it just keeps piling up. Every time I clean a room and then come back later there's socks or pants or shorts or a towel or some-damn-thing on the floor. How does this happen? Never-ending I tell you.

We had a good time yesterday and last night. Unfortunately Miss I kept getting left out. It is amazing how much difference 9 months makes in the kids ages. Bubba and his girl-cousin are 9 months apart (she is older) and Miss I and the boy-cousin are also 9 months apart (he is older), so his speech is 100% better than hers and the big-kids will play with him a little more readily. So poor Miss I was getting left out of everything because she is the youngest. I told her to go commiserate with my youngest sister, she knew how it felt! We all had dinner here and then my youngest sister and the girl-cousin left. We will see them all again tonight at Moms - Little Brother too. It should be a fun night, pizza, wine, birthday celebrations! Yay!

Whew!

Just a few hours and my sister and nephew will be here for a few days. Unfortunately that means I need to hustle my bustle to get the house cleaned up. If I had been thinking ahead I would have arranged for my Girl Friday to come in this week, but I thought I would have the time. Which I did, I just didn't use it for cleaning! What did I use it for? I really don't remember.

I did get another outdoor run in this week on Thursday. I also did aerobics on Saturday morning. So all in all last week I got 5 workouts in! Way to go. I probably won't have that much luck this week, its my long work week plus Karate plus company, but we shall see. I am sure I can talk my sister into going to the Y with me ... or she can go visit Mom while I am working out. Either way I am definitely taking today off. I am pretty sore from the class I took yesterday. Plus I have all that cleaning to do...

We were invited out to dinner last night. We went to a resort-y kind of place with a nice restaurant. It was called Tendrils. It was ... alright. I don't think we will go out there for dinner again, it was a long drive (an hour) and then it was, you know, a "dining experience" so everything was little servings of fancy things. The food was pretty good, the service marginal and the price pretty high because it was a Resort. The restaurant was tiny, I think I counted 15 tables. The resort only has 30 rooms but we couldn't see them because it was dark. There is also a winery and a spa out there, but again we couldn't see anything because it was dark. I imagine its very pretty in the daylight, and I might drive there for a spa day, but probably not for dinner again.

Accomplishments

• It was a 2 mile run, I drove it today. Way to go!
• I worked out yesterday and today too!
• I got most of the laundry done - washed, folded AND put away.
(My Honey gets kudos for laundry this week too, he did a ton over the weekend while I worked my A off.)
• I got grocery shopping for the rest of the week done. It's been a couple weeks since I planned meals ahead, and it's causing me too much stress. Time to get back on the ball!
• I managed extra kids twice this week and got everyone where they were supposed to go. We were a tad bit late to Bubba's karate class, but it worked out just fine.
• All I could think this morning as I drove the kids to school was how much like a "soccer mom" I felt. My two kids plus an extra on board...
• My sister and nephew are coming to stay with us Sunday through Tuesday. Fun stuff! It's family birthday celebration time. My mom, two sisters and nephew all have birthdays in the first 15 days of March. We are planning a family dinner on Monday night at moms’ house for everyone.

I saw a long-time-ago friend yesterday and today at the Y, “N’heisel”. He was working out at the same time as I was. Today as I was picking up Miss I he was leaving so we stopped to chat for a few minutes. The last I heard he was the Headmaster at a private school in town and I think his kids are all grown and out of the house now.

We looked into his school last year for Bubba. Seeing and talking to him for a few minutes today got me thinking about Bubba’s schooling again. I hear more often than not how he misses his old school. He is pretty impartial to his school right now and I worry about it. It could just be that Kindergarten isn’t challenging enough. All he brings home is copy-work of letters that he already knows, pictures he has colored (which he despises doing) and books that they “read” that are mostly pictures. So I got to wondering about the private school again. Would it be a good choice for Bubba? Will public school work out just fine? Anyway, just a few thoughts.

Welcome back Me

I was too tired to write last week, if you can believe that. I took the kids to my dads house the weekend before last and it took me a full week to recuperate emotionally which was exhausting physically. You know how that goes? It was a good trip, the kids did really well, it was just an emotional time. Without getting into to much I just wonder where I belong in their lives right now and how to help. So I am kind of carrying a heavy burden.

Speaking of burdens:
"911 what is the address of your emergency?"
Silence
"Hello? 911"
"Yeah, I am in Your Town"
"Okay, where are you?"
"At the big park downtown"
(deep breath) "Are you at Walla Walla, Riverfront or Confluence park?"
"Um, the one with the tennis and basket ball court"
"Okay, what’s going on there?"
"There’s a blue vehicle in the parking lot and I am on the other side of the bridge that goes out to the peninsula."
"Okay, what’s…" click … Dial tone.
I figured out which park, one of my partners sent law enforcement, but not soon enough. Our officers found him and a 12 gauge right where he said he would be.

I was the last one to talk to him alive. He must have had his mind made up, he didn't even give me a chance to say anything. He used a phone that couldn't receive calls so I wasn't even able call back to figure out what was going on.

That was Sunday, after work I went to work out. I ended up running outside since it was so dang nice (high 50's). I started at the boat launch and ended up at the place he called from. For some reason I had to see it. There wasn't anything to see though, the water had risen as they removed him and any trace of anything except some tire tracks on the grass was gone. I ran the whole way. Good music, nice weather, and a lot on my mind.

It was probably at least a 2 mile run. And I am hurting from it today! My shins - wooo. But I went into the Y and tried to get in another run today. Barely made it a mile. Then I was going to do some weights, but I just couldn't. It was busy and I just didn't have it in me. Maybe tomorrow morning.

For You

"Is this one full bloom?" he asked as he selected a crocus.
"Yes it is." I answered
"Okay, Grandma will like this one then."
And he proceeded to pick 3 more for her bouquet. What a sweet kid.

Conspiracy

Bubba and Miss I may be against us!
We are sort of, lazily potty training Miss I. She is ready, but we are lazy and work all the time and just have not taken the time to do it. I have a potty chair sitting out in the bathroom, she sits on it often, but rarely does her business there. She is interested in doing her business, but just doesn't do it yet so I offered her one candy for pee and two for poo. Simple, right?

She and Bubba were getting ready for bed a couple nights ago, so she sat down to do her business and they excitedly came out of the bathroom telling us she had pee'd. Yay!! Candy!! But me, I must see it to believe it so I went up to examine the proof. Guess what I found? My son telling me that "She pee'd, she really did" with a little too much animation. So I take a closer look and find water in the potty chair. Those two boogers tried to fool me. ME! Of all people they tried to fool their mother. Silly, silly kids.
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We are going to go to Issaquah on Friday. Grandma and Grandpa are dying to see the kids. It should be a nice break for me. My Honey is going to stay home, well sort of, he and one of his friends are going to find somewhere to golf. Its been nice enough they shouldn't have to go far.
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As a kid I never played sports. The biggest reason was lack of parental involvement. It was just too much trouble. In fact, I remember very few concerts, plays or other events that I or my siblings tried to be involved in that my folks were at. So now its my turn to be a good parent, to change the cycle. To go to my kids stuff, to be there to encourage them. To be the mother I always wanted. I sure do put a lot of pressure on myself don't I?

Fun, Fun, Fun!

No work, no school today. Fun, fun, fun. I didn't have anything planned and then Best Buddy's mom called to see if he and his sister could come over until after lunch. Fun, fun, fun! So I have a house-full of kids. Including an older girl for Miss I to hang with. The boys are playing with Legos and the girls are watching The Jungle Book and petting the dog. Lucky dog, she will get a lot of attention today.

Best Buddy's older sister is trying to hide all over my house, it's cute. She is 4th grade, I think, and totally into spying and hiding and all that.

Its been really nice weather, I hope to get the kids out later this afternoon so we can go to the park or something. I could use some fresh air and I hate to let another good day go to waste.

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I got around to getting a photo of my roses from Valentines Day uploaded. They are still pretty!

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My work week ended pretty well, much better than it started out, thats for sure. The only thing I didn't get done were any workouts. Miss I was sick so I couldn't very well take her to the babysitting area at the Y now could I? My Honey had been home with the kids for TWO WHOLE DAYS and I felt bad not coming right home from work on Sunday, add to that I was beat from going in at 3am and it just didn't work out well this week. I am hoping to get in this afternoon around 4-ish to get at least a run in and maybe some weights.

Work this week looks tough; I have a 4 hour OT shift tomorrow morning (3-7 am) and then I go in at 3am on Wednesday, too. My MIL is out of town this week so My Honey actually took Wed-Fri off to stay home with the kids. The day she called to tell me she would be out of town I stressed. My first call was to My Honey to let him know, just as a heads up and his first comment was "so you want me to take the week off?" (and the angels sang) It was the most wonderful offer ever! So he is off most of this week. Unfortunately I have 3 OT shifts, the two I just mentioned and I am going to a training class on Thursday that will go until 5pm. It's going to be a long week, but at least I know the kids are taken care of. He just realized last night that he has to take Bubba to school and pick him up and all that. It was cute.

If Wednesday goes as planned, I am supposed to get to spend part of the day out of the office which will help a lot. One of our Sergeants called and offered to take a couple dispatchers out to the Range while they are "blowing things up." I don't know exactly what it will entail, but I am looking forward to getting out of the office for a few hours. However, my last training was cancelled so ... I am not counting on or looking forward to it. Plus, its my "short week" I only work Wed, Thurs and Fri then I am off for a 4-day weekend! I don't have anything planned, but if the weather holds, I may venture over to my dads for a short visit. Leave on Friday after work and keep Harry out of school on Monday ... Just maybe. It would be nice to get away and I think I could finagle a night (or two) away if I asked real nice.

So much rosier

Well, today went much better...

Miss I has an ear infection and possibly pneumonia. Thank goodness I was able to get her into the doctor's office yesterday. Who knows how bad she would have been last night or today. So she is on a heavy duty does of antibiotics which I hope work. If her cough is worse after the weekend then we will have to go in for chest x-rays which are no fun for a 2 year old. They have to put them in an upright tube-sort-of-thing to hold them still to do chest x-rays. I don't remember why now, but we had some done when she was little, like 6 or 9 months old. I think it was for some kind of funny heart sound. It was torture for me.

Work was alright. The hate mail had actually been sent to the wrong person - go figure, but the admin is still the same. Today we received a singing telegram. So picture this: 6 of us on duty, an in-progress burglary call going on and in walk 4 men dressed in tuxedos to sing to us. Thanks but no thanks. Not when I have officers out with bad guys. It pissed me off. One of the other dispatchers tried to come over and make a joke about it, but I was so mad I swore at him and told him he better leave my space right away before I punch him. I was so mad. My trainee called it the most surreal experience he has ever had at any job. I am pretty sure he's hooked on dispatch.

After work, I went next door to My Honey's work to pick up the kid-car keys (I forgot mine this mornning) and heard him say he had flowers for me. I thought he was pulling my leg (and everyone listening) because I hadn't asked for them, nor had I seen them yesterday or this morning when I left for work and I couldn't imagine when he picked them up. Well, lo and behold, sometime he went and got flowers, roses actually, and had them waiting for me when I got home. What a guy. (I would post a picture now, but I had a techincal problem... the kids got in the way. Later)

Friday the 13th??

What a day. (Note: its only 1230)

Work sucked.

A training I was scheduled to go to yesterday was cancelled so I had to go to work today (which I had not planned on doing).

I had "hate mail" (you know, the kind accusing you of something without proof) waiting for me when I got there. These things bother me because if I do something wrong, please show me what it was, don't just quote the policy and procedure manual (THAT I CO-AUTHORED) to me in an effing e-mail. I know what the hell it says and I believe I follow it, show me where I went wrong.

And there was a reminder of how unprofessional and unprepared our Admin are; the two people with the techie powers-that-be are BOTH out of the state for a week and left no directions of who to call or what to do if there are techie problems. In my humble opinion there should be something posted somewhere so that we all know what to do in their absence since there are many, many hours during the day when there isn't a supervisor on duty, not to mention, the supervisor on duty didn't have a clue when I asked her this morning. So if there is a problem when I am on and there is no supervisor I guess the Director gets the phone call.

Ugh, the place is just pissing me off lately. Time for a long weekend away.

And then, (yep, theres more) Miss I is sick. She had trouble sleeping last night, woke every couple hours (which could be the real source of my sour mood today) screaming like she is in pain somewhere. This morning she spiked a 102 degree fever. So I came home from work and made an appointment with the doctor for this afternoon for her. That’s probably the only good thing, I got to leave work, where I really didn't want to be anyway. Oh yeah, and I might have gotten myself mixed up in a relationship thing at work that is really none of my business. Stupid, stupid me. I know better than to go looking for gossip. The best stuff always comes to me.

So that’s my day so far. It’s not even 1:00 yet. Maybe I will go hide under the covers until Miss I wakes from her nap.

Drink of water

I thought this post ("Criminal Act") was really funny because I recently tested this theory. I had been called a "tall drink of water" by a co-worker so I thought I would show him how tall I could actually be and wore 3-inch heels to work with ... well, snug fitting jeans. I don't usually make a spectacle of myself, but I couldn't resist. Needless to say, I received my fair share of comments. Funny what a couple inches and good jeans can do for a girl when they make her 5'11.

Right this very minutes my house smells like spice cake. MMMMM!! I got the urge to make cupcakes. I don't know where it came from, one moment I was shopping at Target, the next minute I was obsessed with spice cake and butter cream frosting. It was the craziest thing. They are in the oven now (or were) and they smell delicious. It's been ages since I made cupcakes. What kind of mother am I? Anyway, we are going to frost them later and take them to my mothers' house for dessert. Not sure I can resist that long before I eat one though.

I got in for a workout this morning. Good for me! I did legs and then the elliptical machine for 30 minutes.

Home Show

There was a home show in town this weekend. I spent an hour or so there on Saturday, I wanted to ask a couple vendors about some things. I actually had to circle the place 2 times before I worked up the nerve to approach one of the vendors I wanted to talk to. I am such a weenie about putting myself out there. The guy was nice, gave me the information on interior doors and I moved on. The next place I went ended up being just as helpful, but it took a lot out of the guy at the table to talk to me. I was standing there looking at their brochures and heard someone say "how’s it going to day?" I looked up thinking they were talking to me, but I was wrong ... THREE TIMES. Everyone was greeted as they walked up to the table but me. I was feeling a little like I must have been dressed wrong. Then when the guy finally did talk to me he implied that I wouldn’t be able to afford wooden windows I should go with vinyl, because they are about 1/2 the price. Mister, you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

I told My Honey about it and he said something like "Sometimes people have this thing where they seem like they don’t want to be bothered, like they are unapproachable." WHO ME????? Unfortunately he is so right. It reminded me of one of the deputies I went on a ride along with recently, he asked me if he "passed the test." Am I that bad?? I guess so if two people in the past few months have made mention of it.

So what is a girl to do? Do I need to do anything at all? Yes, that’s why my mental attitude adjustment for this year is directly related to this kind of stuff. See how I am? I know what I need. And I would say that I did well at the home show approaching the vendors I wanted information from. I actually did it!

My cute little Bubba. I started to make him rest for an hour or so while Miss I naps so I can have a little peace and quiet each day. So he is up resting right now - or at least trying. He is so excited about Karate class he can't sit still or keep quiet during his quiet time. He is up there right now in his uniform asking how much longer until Karate. I had to promise him I would not get him there late and I would not forget. What a cutie!

What, no winter pix?

I really wanted to get some great winter photos this year, trees, mountains, snow that kind of stuff but it just hasn't worked out. So I thought tomorrow I would go out and do it, but I forgot I have a massage scheduled at 9:30. No way I am gonna cancel that! I won't be able to do it tomorrow morning, but maybe Tuesday?

I worked out today! Yay me. Two weeks off didn't kill me like I thought it might. I was able to do aerobics on Saturday and not feel too bad and then I ran today without too much trouble. Eighteen minutes as a matter of fact. I had some good tunes going!! Gonna have to remember that mix.

I taught Miss I something naughty! I ask her "Who's cute?" and she answers "ME!" Then I say "Who else is cute?" and she will answer "Mommy" or "Daddy" or "EErie". It's pretty funny.

I got the go-ahead to spend some money today and couldn't find a thing. Everything showed too many extra lumps and soft spots. Thats how I ended up working out today. So much for retail therapy. Maybe I will take the alotted amount and do the bathroom stuff I have wanted to do...

Its official

It's official, I am a soccer mom. No, we didn't buy a mini-van, (and we don't have plans to any time soon) Bubba is officially signed up for his first sport - soccer, which makes me an official soccer mom. He is also signed up for Karate right now. They kind of both happened the same week and thankfully we can drop Karate when soccer starts in April (or try to do both if they fall on different nights). So our lives just got a little busier on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Sometimes my life fascinates me. Here I am thirty-seven and I still have a kid in diapers, and drinking bottles. I think I thought by now I would have kids in school and be coasting along in life. But here I am just beginning the rigors of carting kids around (before I know it Miss I will be taking dance or some dang thing like that) and still dealing in diapers.

I look at the lives of other women (yes, I am comparing) and think how much smarter it would have been to get kids going earlier. But life wouldn't be what it is now would it? And I know it worked out this way for a reason, I just don't know the reason yet. But sometimes I am a bit jealous of the younger girls. The ones that are 30-33 and their kids are in school and settled in sports or what ever. The ones that don't have diapers and bottles sitting around. The ones that don't have to fix the kids something different for dinner because they won't eat what the adults are. (Yes, I know this is a problem I created and make worse by not forcing the kids to eat what we eat.)

Work was kind of the pits this week. One of the supervisors made a comment that put me on guard and judging every thing she did that was aimed at me. The guild thing is still pissing me off and my trainee was getting on my nerves. He wasn't doing things MY way so I was annoyed. I know, I know.... I warned him that next week I am going to hover and hound. He actually said it might help, so that’s our plan. He’s at the point if I don't, its going to be an up hill battle for him to re-learn good habits. Am I prepared for the exhaustion? I don't know, better stock up on Fat Tire just in case. I did make it through and I didn't have as bad of a week as some.

And finally, I got in for a work-out today. Only the second one in two weeks. I so fell off the wagon. Need, need, need to get back on. I started to feel bad because my MIL didn't seem to be too pleased with me going after work, I think this happened the week she had the flu bug. But I gotta do something, I felt so much better. I was dealing with winter so well. So I plan on going Tuesday to a 4:30 class, the kids can go to the play areas at the Y, Thursday and Friday right after work while the kids are still at grandmas. Its the best I can do. Saturday I may sneak over after work too and I will take Sunday off. The trick is dinner, going to work out at 3 puts me home after 4:30 sometime. Just barely enough time to make dinner, but I can do it. I have before and it was so worth it.

(is anyone else having problems with spell check?)

Can't sleep

I can't sleep (again). Miss I woke up at 11-ish and I have not been back to sleep yet.

I am still spun up about a conversation I overheard at work. The damned Guild is fighting Administration about seniority. They don't want to give it to me. Selfish mo-fo's (I am sure that I seem like the selfish mo-fo to them, but its them, really). So they are holding up everyone’s raises to iron this issue out. Short story: the Guild won't agree to office seniority (giving me and any other supervisor that steps down or gets demoted the months or years worth of service toward our seniority) so the Admin won't agree to the raise amount.

It just pisses me off. What the hell is the point? I wonder if I mention to a few key people that their raises are being held up because of the seniority issue if they would go to their representatives and say "F-you, give in, its not that big of a deal" since it was at the urging of their representatives that this whole thing started anyway. Jerks. Selfish effing asses. Maybe I will demand a re-bid when the whole thing is over just to get the days off I want. Then we will see who is selfish. (Childish I know, but its making me feel better? Not really.) So because the Admin and the Guild can't work these two issues out the dang guild contract-thing is going to mediation. Which means it will be a few more months.

Anyway, I am trying to get it out of my system, but its not working very well. I am trying to see both sides, but it is not working very well. I tried not to let it show at work, and I thought I did a pretty good job until one of my Detective-friends called in. I was doing actual work for him and at the end of our conversation he asked what was wrong. He's one of the more intuitive guys I know (obviously) because he could tell by the tone of my voice that I was all cranky. I had honestly forgotten about the conversation until he brought it up, but it had certainly taken its toll throughout the day.

Then, My Honey got home and I mentioned it to him. Now who's spun up? Oh my goodness. He was all over the place. Told me if it didn't work out my way he had a dollar amount in mind to spend on legal fees to get it worked out. (He thinks he is so tough.)

Randomness

Sheesh! What a week. Bubba got better; I felt like hell on Wednesday so I left work a couple hours early and caught a nap. Miss I was sick on Thursday so My Honey stayed home with her, then he was sick on Friday and Saturday. THEN Miss I threw up again on Saturday night so I called out sick for work on Sunday. Screw them, my family needed me. I felt bad about it but what can I do? My Honey handled the kids pretty well all day Saturday feeling like hell but I couldn't stand the thought of it for a second day. Thankfully I didn't get the worst of it. I just felt like I was going to throw up for 3 days, everyone else did. Everyone but Miss I seems pretty good today. She is still whiny, I don’t know if she is feeling bad or just got a lot of attention when she whined last week so she is trying it on... I hope its just she is trying it on so we can break her of it right quick.

We got a few inches of new snow yesterday, so after I took Bubba to school this morning I nearly took myself and Miss I on a road trip to take some winter photos. Nearly. I couldn't bring myself to do it, the roads were a tad icy and I wasn't sure I wanted to take on that much of a challenge just for a few pics. My camera is still in the car though, I may get around to it this afternoon.

I never should have done it, but I opened a bag of candy hearts and now I can't stop eating them. mmmmmmm.

And damn that groundhog anyway. 6 more weeks.

Thats love

When he saw her lying unconscious on the bathroom floor his heart couldn't take it. He called 911 to report her condition but never indicated that he was having any problems of his own. The aid crew arrived and found that that they had 2 patients. The woman, dead before they arrived and her husband, dying from a broken heart. They worked him and rushed him to the hospital as soon as the deputy arrived at the death investigation.

One of the many examples of what goes on out in the field and we have no idea until its over. When the aid crew called out with CPR in progress we assumed it was the woman for whom the ambulance was sent in the first place. I believe we were wrong.

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Bubba is doing much better today. He was such a trooper! Twice while he was being sick he was so dang funny - is that mean to say? There he is, all 37 pounds of him, puking his guts out and I am in the bathroom with him saying reassuring things like "Don't worry, Baby... You're being so brave, Baby... Just let it come out, Baby."

At one point on Saturday night (as he is puking) we have this conversation:
"Do me a favor..." (puke)
"Sure, what is it?"
"don't call..." (puke)
"me..." (puke)
"babyanymore..." (puke)
(I hide a grin as my heart kind of breaks) "okay Bab...Bub ... dude."

On Sunday, after eating a red Popsicle that didn't stay down, this is our conversation:
"Don't worry..." (puke)
"its not..." (puke)
"blood..." (puke)
"just red..." (puke)
"Popsicle" we finish together.

Who does that? Has a complete conversation while they are puking? I don't think I can think when I am being sick. I am concentrating on getting it over with. What a kid.

I kept him home from school today, his fever didn't break until sometime during the night. Its a good thing too, he has been taking a nap since noon-ish. I should probably wake him up soon.

EWWICKY

So much for a weekend "off." Bubba came down with the flu. The worst possible scenario you can imagine. It started on Saturday afternoon (coming out both ends) and we still aren't in the clear. Currently he is lying helpless in the family room, fever of about 101 all curled up afraid to eat anything because it might find its way back out. Poor kid. He has been quite a trooper through this whole thing. Its no fun being sick.

Its no fun being the mom of a sick kid either. My Honey tries, but he is kind of worthless when it comes to sick stuff. Even after having kids for six years now, he still has no idea what to do to help. OK, first of all, take the well child away. Second, when the sick kid and mom are sleeping the next morning, do the laundry - especially the puked-on stuff from the day before. Third, don't leave the house for the day. Just a few things. No big deal really. Until the sick child throws up again and the well child is scared because mom ran out of the room to go be with sick child. It has been quite a day.

Randomness

I certainly lucked out! I have a new trainee at work and he is great. Easy to work with, open to comments/criticism, asks a lot of good questions and really wants to be good a the job. I am enjoying working with him, and so far it's pretty easy. So that is all good. We are training on my favorite frequency - all my old chums from when I first started dispatching. I hadn't realized how much I missed them these past couple months. Someone else had their frequency for training purposes and I have stayed off their frequency because I knew that I wouldn't get a break from them for awhile once I had a trainee on board. But I sure did miss them.

Its my weekend. Unfortunately I have a short overtime shift on Monday morning (3-7am) but that shouldn't be too bad. I still get the majority of the day off and two in a row.

The kids and I went to the Y today so I could do aerobics. I should really be keeping track of how often I am working out. Lets see, that made 3 classes this week I think. Today's class was a combo class. The instructor did a wonderful job of mixing it up. We alternated step aerobics then boxercise for 45 minutes straight, then 30 minutes of strength and stretching. I loved it and she was a great instructor too. I am very happy with the results of my workouts. The whole point is to firm up and it seems to be working.

Well, thats all I have for today.

Cryptic notes

It's just after 8pm. The kids are in bed, My Honey is out for a well-deserved night with his buddy and here I sit. Fire going, laptop on, just sitting. Thinking. In my (nearly) 100 things post I said I tend to obsess, and over think but seldom over react. This is true right now for me. What I have on my mind is no big deal, really. But it is occupying a lot of my brain space right now. Why am I allowing that? I don't know. Why don't I just confront the problem and let it go away, or work itself out? Maybe I like the problem too much?

Good Reflection

"Am I as spontaneously kind to God as I used to be, or am I only expecting God to be kind to me? ... How much kindness have I shown Him in the past week? Has my life been a good reflection on His reputation? ... Am I as filled to overflowing with love for Jesus Christ as I was in the beginning, when I went out of my way to prove my devotion to Him?" My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers daily devotional for January 21.

Has my life been a good reflection on His reputation? Hmmm, depends on what part of my life you are looking at.

The end of the devotional says "...I may also begin to realize that He is not what He used to be to me. When this happens, I should allow the shame and humiliation it creates to bring godly sorrow and 'godly sorrow produces repentance ...'(2 Corinthians 7:10)"

Obviously this is speaking to me on a very personal level right now. The thing is, I ain't ready to face the shame, humiliation or repentance right now. My pride is getting in the way.
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In other news, its fricking freezing cold here. I think it was 9 degrees when I went to work this morning. This is part of the 6 weeks of winter where I wish we had a better heat system in the house, instead I have become an expert fire-starter. The fireplace is going almost non-stop either from the time I wake up or from the time I get home after work until I go to bed. Brrrrrr. Thankfully there is no wind or it would be unbearable out. Trouble is it's deceptively beautiful. Bright blue skies, the sun is shining, but its COLD. Since there were no clouds last night with the nearly full moon it was really, really pretty. I was wishing I was out in the sticks taking moon-light photos of snow covered fields or mountains or something. That would have been really (cold) cool.

So much for nothin

Its been a few days and I feel like I should post something, but I got nothin.

I spent the past 5 days working, 3 of them 12 hour shifts. On Saturday when I got off work at 3, I came home, grabbed Miss I and left to go grocery shopping. I also had some items to return to my sister and sister-in-law so off we went. I stopped at LS2's house and dropped off the stuff to her and then headed to my Local SIL's house.

Once there I invited her to go shopping with Miss I and me. I had checked with the finance committee and he agreed that there was some dollars for new jeans. Boy did mama need new jeans! So off we 3 girls went.

I decided to check out Maurices because that is where I got my last favorite pair of jeans that looked hot and I was in the mood for more hot jeans. Three great things happened at Maurices. The kind sales lady told us about the SALE TABLE. The jeans there were 50% off! So I tried on jeans after jeans after jeans. I finally got the right size (which was my first great thing that happened, they were the next size down from what I originally picked out) and it turned out they had 2 pair in the that fit pretty well on the SALE TABLE (second great thing)! So I bought them both! Yay me, new hot jeans. In a LONG SIZE too (third great thing). Extra yay! All in all it was a good shopping trip.

I returned LSIL to her house and Miss I and I continued our shopping. My Honey had asked for two things while I was out, whiskey and diet coke. Guess what I forgot to bring home? Yep, whiskey! I am such a dork. Or exhausted. So off I went to get the whiskey. Then I got home and realized I had also forgotten the diet coke. I am not drinking it anymore (over 2 months now) so I forget to buy it. Silly me. My poor Honey. Luckily there was one can left so he made do. I must have been really tired.

Sunday a new trainee started with me. He is a sharp kid, should be an easy trainee. Hopefully I wont have to have any discussions with him like I did the last one. Those discussions were actually really good for me. They grew me really well. But its not something I want to have to do with everyone. (Yet another reason not to supervise.)

For some reason I had trouble sleeping last night. I woke at 1am and was awake until after 3. I think the few days of waking at 2 for work threw me off. Unfortunately I only have one day to get caught up. I am working an OT shift tomorrow... Oh well, at least I have hot new jeans to wear!

What I did today

I don't think working moms (myself included) give ourselves enough credit when it comes to the shit we get done every day. Not only that, no one else gives us the kudos we deserve either. So I thought I would just mention the things I did today - if I can remember them all just to see if I am full of hot air or if the list is as impressive as I am tired. So here goes:

4:00 (am) That's when my alarm went off for the day
The next hour is spent primping, commuting (a whopping 10 minutes) and getting ready for my work day.
By 4:50 I am seated in my chair waiting for something to do.
I spend the next 10 hours working a console in a center that dispatches fire/ems and law enforcement to a two-county area in Washington State. Today's calls included some accidents, civil situations, phone call transfers to other departments, giving out phone numbers to other local agencies, and listening to one particularly loony woman tell me she has alligators, ware wolves and Santa Claus coming out of her...? In between I do have some fun with my co-workers around the area. We gab in our down time, read the latest gossip rags and keep up on each others lives.

At 3:00 I headed for the gym. I only did a cardio workout today, but this week I have increased my speed, time and distance! I am pretty happy with that, but missing the strength training.

3:30 I headed to my MIL's to pick up the kids.

Around 4ish we were getting Bubba's hair cut. He needed it badly so we finally just did it. After the haircut was the traditional trip to the Dollar Store for a treat. The gal at the barbershop was great, Miss I wanted her hair cut too "Me nee" she was screaming as she touched her hair, so the gal sat her in a seat and combed her hair out. She was Miss Special after that.

It must have been close to 5 pm when we got home the kids turned on a video and I started a fire, because it was freezing cold today, and got going on dinner. My original thought was pizza - quick and easy, but I knew I had planned something else, I just couldn't remember what it was. Somewhere along the lines I got the kids a snack, packed my lunch for tomorrow and remembered I had planned French Dip sandwiches. So I re-set the oven, go the aus jus going and started on chicken nuggets for the kids. They sat down to eat around 5:30ish and My Honey got home a few minutes later.

During dinner My Honey and I try to review our days but the kids need just as much attention so it is hard to do sometimes.

After dinner I read the kids a few books then around 6:15 it was jammie time.

It was maybe 6:45 when I took Miss I to bed and started to read to Bubba. We finished The Trumpet of the Swan tonight. I have never read it, its a pretty good book.

After the kids were down I got my clothes ready for tomorrow (I work so early I get all my stuff ready the night before, isn't that thoughtful of me?).

Then I did dishes, folded a few loads of laundry, got some more started, FIXED A RUNNING TOILET and straightened up the house.

Lets see, did I leave anything out? Oh yeah, I also packed my workout gear for tomorrow. And now its nearing 8pm and I just got a call to come in early to work tomorrow. Figures, I have 2 more OT shifts this week too. Oh well. No rest for the weary.

And that's an easy day in my life.