Trick or treat

Duuuuuuuuuude


We had fun! When we arrived at my Dad's the kids dug through the costume box and Miss I had a little dress up fun with Auntie Dani. Then we got into our "real" costumes, turns out her dress up costume was much cuter huh? Maybe next year!

I am feeling a lot like this again. I have a ton of stuff going on, but most of it isn't stuff I post about. I am still trying to find the right outlet for it.

Lets see, the blogable highlights:
I am taking the kids to my Dad's house this weekend. It should be a fun time.

My sisters are bothering (I know its in love) me about the kids' birthday parties. I guess I should get on the ball about that. Especially since Miss I's is less than 3 weeks away. I cannot believe she is almost three! She was acting every day of it today! Everything was a battle. "No Mama!" was her answer to just about everything. I am exhausted and its only 1:00. I think she isn't feeling well since she is actually sleeping right now.

We are doing our pumpkin carving tonight. Just in time to throw it away :) Isn't that naughty of me? Halloween is one of those holidays that I just don't get into. I could, but I really don't. I put out some decorations, get a pumpkin, but as for dressing up, well, not so much.

I have been helping in Bubbas class at school. I sure hope I can continue to do that kind of thing for both kids as they progress through school. It has been very interesting. I have a heart for the little boys. There are a couple girls in the class who have glommed on to me, but its the boys that need me. Thankfully there is enough of me to go around, since there are only 7 or 8 of them.

I have helped one little guy, E, for the past three weeks. I think at first he was a little afraid of me but we are getting to know each other a lot better. He is very black and white. If you tell him that a capital letter goes at the beginning of a line, he will put a capital letter at the beginning of the line, even if its in the middle of a sentence.

A light really went on for me working with him yesterday, so I hope we have some success this year. There is another one, L, that is kind of a live-wire, class clown kind of kid. He did so great yesterday sitting reading to himself that I forgot he was in the class. When I checked in with him, he was doing good and I asked if he would read to me. I totally expected him not to read well (I know, how bad is that?) turns out he reads a little better than Bubba! Thats what I get for judging a book by its cover!

And then there's work ... not much to say on that front.

And thats about it. The car needs a cleaning before we leave town on Friday, and this afternoon is probably my last chance. I better go get it done.

Reptiles

Some kind of Python
The Crocodile

The Reptile Man was a hit! He showed off several snakes, a turtle, lizards and a crocodile! Miss I, Bubba and I all petted the croc. He was only about 3 feet long. The kids reactions were so great, from squeals to laughter, and some were just kind of in shock. Very cute. Miss I really enjoyed it "Daddy I go tee a take!" (Some day she will say all her letters right.)

The rest of the week is kind of busy, picture day and karate tomorrow, I have a Big Event at work on Thursday, snack day on Friday and its my work weekend.

Halloween is fast approaching and I think I have it figured out for the kids. Miss I inherited some pretty dresses from Auntie Shel. Bubba wants to be a black spider. What if they are Little Miss Muffet and the Spider Who Sat Down Beside Her? Cute?

I am probably going to take them to My Dads for trick or treating. They have an event each year in their neighborhood where the cars line up and they decorate them. I wonder how to tie the car theme in with the kids? Maybe a spider web? How would you make a "tuffet"? Anyway.

I also broke down and signed up on Facebook. Honestly, I have no idea what to do over there! Why you ask? Well, it all has to do with a 20 year class reunion. And that's all I am gonna say!

Change

The morning sun was shining through a crack in the curtains illuminating a vase of sunflowers I had on the kitchen table on Sunday morning.

More change is in the air. Miss I has all but stopped taking naps. Its the dread of every parent when the kids cease to nap. I screws up the schedule. Thankfully she will still rest in her room for an hour or so, but she's done with sleeping. Now I have to find stuff to fill the time.... Today we are going to go to the school for their assembly with the Lizard Guy - or what ever he is called. Reptile Man, that's it. More on that later.

Am I crazy?

One of the things I wanted to find on my trip was a new purse. I had success, but at a high price.

There is an outlet mall here in Lincoln City. One of the stores is "Coach." As we walked by I said "There is no way I would spend $200 on a purse." But there was something that drew us into the store. I think it was the crowd. Seriously, there had to be at least 150 people in this store. For why we wondered, so we checked it out.

Have you ever been into a Coach store when they are having a sale? Well its like Nordstrom's half yearly sale. There was this electric buzz, women and men in a line that snaked 3/4 of the way around the perimeter of the store, not to mention the zig-zag at the check out.

EVERYTHING was at least 30% off PLUS, if you bought a $1 coupon (that went to breast cancer research) you got an EXTRA 25% off. NO KIDDING. Me, I like the close out section myself, and I found a cute little purse and started to stand in line. And we stood there and inched our way up to the register ... 45 minutes later. (Un)fortunately I found a little black number like the closeout one and a matching wallet and something for My Honey. Over $200 later, but not for just ONE purse, I finally got out of there. Crazy I tell you. Simply crazy.
Cute aren't they?

For a girl who never carried a purse regularly until maybe 10 years ago that's quite a purchase. I better take good care of them!

South on The 101

Boiler Bay
Yaquinta Lighthouse
Near a pottery shop in Lincoln City

If I had only known

THAT is dinner. All homemade. Even the rolls! What you can't see is the pork roast that had to be "braised" what ever the hell that is!

I am being spoiled like you wouldn't believe here! I don't know how I will go back to macaroni & cheese, hot dogs and chicken nuggets. Oh wait, yes I do, I will be the one cooking, so its out of the box, easy stuff on my menu!

These women are amazing. Pies! I only have pie at holidays and that is because someone else made it. Home made rolls, same thing. My mother-in-law makes rolls for holidays and I scarf them down like candy! "Braised" pork roast ... riiiiiiight. Not in my house. If it has some kind of marinade its the one that came on it in the package. Sad, I know.
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I headed south toward Newport today. I had to stop at the Rogue Brewery for more Dead Guy Ale. Guess what happened there? They were having a Columbus Day sale. I bought a different variety, Dads Little Helper, instead of Dead Guy Ale this time (since it was 1/3 the price). And I found one more reason to love the Rogue Brewery, they thought I was 27! HA! I haven't been 27 in over 10 years. I love those guys. The guy serving beer samples studied me hard, asked me if I was 21 and then guessed me at 27. Yeah, I love those guys!
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AND, Oregon. I don't know what to do when they pump my gas. Do you tip the guy, do you wash your own windshield? What do you do? I hate feeling helpless and that's how the gas attendants make me feel. I am used to pumping my own stinking gas and I don't know what to do when someone else does.... Its just so weird.
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Ahhhhhhhh

THAT, my friends is my path to the beach! Actually its a spit, but same difference, right? Its just a few yards away from our deck!

I made it, even though my internal compass is screwed up. Thank goodness for the one in my rear view mirror! Seriously, south feels east to me and west feels north, I am totally unreliable to get myself someplace!

There is a hot tub, there is quietness, there is a TV, if I so desire (which I don't) and books. Chairs by the windows looking over the spit to read the books in, and a second house where there is a lot more activity going on if I want a break from the quiet. There are also several outdoor fire pits. I am pretty sure we're gonna have a fire one of these nights, just gotta get us some dry wood and pray for a clear night. Last night would have been perfect but we weren't prepared. Oh yeah, and internet access.

Preparation

Camera - check
iPod - check
Batteries - check
Wine & beer - check
Cash - check
Phone - check (in fact its brand spanking new!)
Books - check
Books on tape/cd - check

What have I got left to do?
Pack- still waiting on laundry to be done
House cleaned up - not gonna happen :) Well, some of it will, but I am not going to do a huge cleaning, the kids and My Honey are staying home.
Clean out the car, pack the car
Haircut, that happens at 2, but I think that's it. Oregon Coast, here I come.

Happy Fall

Sunnybank Farms, Lake Chelan, WA
Sunnybank Farms, Lake Chelan, WA

Nefarious Cellars, Lake Chelan, WA


What a great weekend!

My sister arrived safe and sound on Friday evening. We had dinner, got my kids to bed and then went to get our cousin from my Mom's house.

The three of us went to my favorite wine bar and had some wine and great conversation! It was amazing how much the three of us have in common. I learned some fun stuff about my sister, and lots of things about my cousin.

She lives in southern Oregon and we don't get to see each other much. When we were kids we saw each other a few times a year, then her family moved to Minnesota. We kept in touch by mail off and on through school. It was a treat to spend a lot of time with her this weekend.

Saturday, my sister and I picked up the rest of the girls (Cousin, Sister and Auntie) and we all went to Lake Chelan for wine. Lots of wine. I was actually wined-out by dinner if you can imagine.

We visited six wineries and then came back to town. It was a lot of fun. There are some beautiful wineries, some po-dunk wineries and some average wineries. I only bought a bottle at one of them. I REALLY wanted to like with wine at Vin du Lac, because their labels are so cute, but it really wasn't that great to me. It was "earthy" and we had a few more descriptive words, but I don't want to dis them too bad, someone out there likes them!

All in all, it was a great start to my vacation! My cousin reminded me at the first winery that I was on vacation, I am still having trouble remembering. Come Tuesday, when I start to pack I should be pretty well there!

Ahhhh

My work day usually ends at 3 provided someone isn't out sick or on vacation.

Today I had a meeting at 1, so I was scheduled off the floor. The meeting was canceled, which was fine, but I just kept thinking of all the things I could do with 2 hours ... Grocery shopping being number 1. It's not that big of a deal, I really should have done it yesterday, but just didn't get it done and it was stressing me out, "When am I going to get it done? Tonight is Karate, tomorrow I will have to take both kids to Safeway AND Costco. UGH." So now its done. I made a menu at work for the next two weeks, planning easy stuff for the days I am out of town and even remembered to plan for this weekend while LK is here! Took the time off, hit Safeway and Costco (alone) got it all put away and had time to spare before Bubba was out of school! I may even walk down and pick him up instead of drive ... I know, "what a stud!" :)

Two more work days! Yay

Plans

Only 3 work days left till I am on vacation! That is if I don't lose my voice first. I had a sore throat last week for a couple days, no biggie, I worked through it, but now my voice is totally froggy. No, more like a 12 year old boy whose voice is changing. Hopefully (?) I have enough voice to get me through the next three days. If not, oh well, at least I will "feel" fine while using sick time, I just won't sound great! Its the weirdest thing when my voice does this. I remember all through school when it happened to other people (you know when they would get laryngitis, or yell at a football game till they were hoarse) what a bummer it was that it never happened to me. Now its my turn. And I didn't even go to a football game or anything. Just a change in the season or a cold that caught hold of my throat somehow. Oh well.

My weekend plans are coming together! LK and my cousin will be here Friday! Yay! Several of us are planning a drive to Lake Chelan to visit the wineries. There are 13 of them, not that we are going to visit them all, but maybe 4 or 5. OOOOH, and its "crush" time with special events going on the first weekend of October, lucky us!! That should work out to be fun.

Vacation plans are all set. The house is rented, I just have to check the weather and pack. Kids are all taken care of while I am gone (My Honey took a couple days off work) but I should plan some meals. And that's about it. Hopefully there will be internet access this time and I can post the hundreds of photos I am going to take!

Fall into ...

Well, it came and went. The first day of fall. It was a windy, cold day here. Didn't get above 60 degrees. Makes me sad. I hate to see summer end. Oh well, I do have a lot to look forward to this last quarter of 2008.

For instance, starting October 4th I am on vacation from work for 10 days (I know, "again?" How lucky am I?) 5 of which I will actually spend ON VACATION, with a gaggle of girls, in Oregon for our Second Annual Female Family Gathering. Yay! My cousin will be in town for part of the days I am off, and my sister (LK) may come over too. That will be a great time, my sisters, my cousin and I ... oh yeah!

The part of the trip I am most looking forward to? Taking the jeep, my ipod and whatever music I want for the drive down. Alone. All by myself! And then the return trip, the jeep, my ipod, my music, all by myself. I am also looking forward to seeing the relatives, getting to hang with the girls I don't see very often, sampling some yummy wine and taking some great photos - weather permitting. My plan is to drive down through the Columbia River Gorge, it was so beautiful when I came back last year, but I was in a hurry and couldn't stop to enjoy it, or I would have been late for dinner!

In November I have another 10 days off work at Thanksgiving. We are making our bi-annual trip to Guemes Island to spend the holiday there with my Dad, his wife and her family. It is always a good time. And of course we have birthdays in November; my mother and father in-law, Miss I, and me, plus Bubba in December and Christmas. So this 4th quarter should keep us pretty busy. Not to mention work, school, karate, and I was thinking that Miss I might like to be in either a swim or dance class ...

(See girls, I just needed a little encouragement, now you can't shut me up!)

Encouragement

Thanks Girls! With that little bit of encouragement in the comments, I will tell the Cowboy story. (PS I am totally jealous of LK quitting her job, but on the other hand, that means I get to see her more!)

Last week ... lets see, where to start? My Honey was going out of town Thursday through Sunday for a golf tournament with a group of guys so we had to do some creative planning to get the kids taken care of. Since I work at 5 am, we asked his mom to keep the kids overnight Wednesday and Thursday, she was a lifesaver, as usual, and helped us out tremendously. (Thanks Mom V!)

Wednesday was Bubba's Karate class. Afterward we were headed home to get his overnight stuff and then to Grandmas to sleep over. As we were driving home I was reviewing my expectations of when we got home, I had a hot date with My Honey at 5:30 and didn't want to be late because Bubba was lolly-gagging around the house.

"We are going to go home, you change your clothes, get your backpack with the overnight stuff in it while I make your lunch and grab the snacks for class tomorrow. No fooling around, we need to get it done pretty quickly okay?" That was pretty much my instructions to Bubba. This is the conversation that followed:

"Oh yeah, mom, I forgot I have a date tonight." (Oh, here we go, I thought.)
"A date? With whom?"
"With ML."
"Really, well, we aren't going to be home tonight remember?"
"Oh yeah, that's right... She is going to come to grandmas for dinner."
"Okay, well we still need to get that stuff done so we can get to grandmas"

... these kinds of conversations are pretty regular when he is trying to get out of something, I don't know where he gets that creative bent (ha ha ha) and its usually all I can do not to laugh out loud at his outrageous imagination! ...

"Well, I want to dress nice, is that okay?"
"Sure, as long as it doesn't take too long." (Always focused on the task at hand.)
"And I want to do my hair nice too." (Hair, oh no ...)
"Well, why don't you do your hair at grandmas?"
"Okay."

At this point we are near home, I repeat my directions to him and we're off.

After he rummages around upstairs getting ready, he comes down and says to me "Mom, how do I look? I decided to go like a cowboy"

I really should have taken a picture! I nearly did, but I was focused on the task at hand ...

He was wearing camouflage rain boots with jeans tucked into them, a white long sleeved, button up shirt with red and blue pinstrips (the one you gave him for Christmas LK), that is nearly too small, untucked, a blue fleece vest, that is at least 2 sizes too small, and to top it off (no pun intended) a blue and red straw hat. He was so pleased with himself. And it was so cute! I really regret not taking a picture. Seriously I can't even do him justice by describing it! I told him he looked awesome and we were off to grandmas.

Funny, funny kids, that's what I have! I don't take nearly enough time to enjoy them. I am trying, it just doesn't always come naturally.

The rest of the week was just as chaotic, I picked Bubba up from school on Thursday, he had a Karate promotional test, which he did very good at. And then back to the school for open house night. His teacher did a great job of telling us all the stuff they are doing, she had a fun little scavenger hunt so the kids had to tell us about a few corners of the class room, show us the music room, the reading and computer labs. And then back to grandmas.

Friday I picked up Bubba from school, Miss I from grandmas and we were off for two nights at my Dad's house. It was really nice to get away for a couple nights.

Miss I didn't even seem phased that she hadn't slept at home in 2 days, or seen much of me. She was perfectly content to "pen da nye ah gam-ahs. I booked home and packed ... I took the kids to Issaquah for the weekend. So all in all its was a pretty busy week! Hopefully it will calm down a little this week!

Ho hum

I have a lot to say, but nothing to say. I just can't find the words. Ya know? For some reason I can't get what's inside out.

I have a funny cowboy story about Bubba, a cute story about Grandma shopping with Miss I, you know, the usual, but I also have some personal crap going on that I just don't want to talk about here and I guess that's the problem, choosing what to edit takes a lot of work.

So, until my work issues are resolved and life is easy again, I guess... Well, I will take it one day at a time. Maybe I will get around to telling the kid stories, they are definitely worth the work, but I just ain't in the mood.

Just wanted to check in, I am still around, just not writing much these days.

Bits and pieces

Well, we made it through the first two weeks of school pretty much unscathed! A few meltdowns here and there, but nothing we couldn't manage. Bedtime has worked out to be around 7 or 7:30 which gives me and My Honey a little time to ourselves at the end of the day and that works out very nicely.

So far I like Mrs. W, Bubba's teacher. She sent home a project for the fair. Each student got a piece of a puzzle to decorate with things about themselves and then she entered the whole project into the fair. Bubba thought it was great to see his project at the fair and so did his cousin whose picture happened to be included in his collage. It was pretty neat.

Miss I liked "teeing da doats and ho-hees" (seeing the goats and horses) at the fair, she is still talking about it today. Its pretty cute. She sure can chat it up, but her words are almost all hard to understand yet.

The work-part of life, it goes on. It ain't all perfect right now, but thats the way it is.

First Day Of School

Well, he's off to first grade. School from 8:40 till 3:20 every day. What a weird thing. I just don't know what to do with myself and Miss I. My sister suggested that we should go to the play gym once a week which is a GREAT idea! Miss I could use the interaction with other kids and ... maybe I would make a new friend? Not likely. But we might try it in a few weeks.

Bubba was stressed, nervous, excited but all under a veneer of calm this morning. He actually slept until almost 7, which is great, got up, got himself dressed, ate breakfast, and off we went to Grandmas to drop off Miss I so I could do the first day of school thing with Bubba. We found his classroom, met his teacher, put away his lunch (yeah, I had to make a lunch for him) and then emptied out his backpack.

I tell you their list-o-stuff for school was long. Fifty bucks worth! Crayons, pencils, scissors, erasers, notebooks, composition books, markers, twistables, a school box ... HEY! Remember those hard cardboard boxes with the lids that lifted up and eventually broke off? They don't make them like that anymore. Now everything is cheap plastic that is gonna break in just a few weeks. It was the most disappointing part of back to school shopping! They also have to take kleenix, disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer. Times sure have changed!

His teacher, Mrs. W seems nice. I actually remember her from church youth group back in high school. I wasn't sure if she remembered me or not, we kind of ran in different circles (because our youth group had different circles if you can believe that, but thats a whole other post) but I think she remembered me once she knew my name. There were just a few kids from his kindergarten class in his new class, so that might be a little hard for him, but he will be alright. There were at least 25 kids in the class, way more kids than 18 last year and it looked like the girls outnumbered the boys again, in his desk-grouping there were 2 boys and 3 girls, it looked like that at the other 4 groupings too.

After I dropped him off, I went and picked up Miss I from Grandmas and we went to the park to pick black berries. I had heard that there were some on the Loop Trail so we went to check it out. Sure enough, we found tons without trespassing on private property. I should have had my camera! We came upon a cluster of three different kinds of berry bushes. It was pretty cool. Next time. I have no idea what to do with her tomorrow.

All of a sudden she seems really tall. Her legs are getting longer and thinning out. My little baby is growing up. She is also saying things much clearer. (This is good and bad!) Soon she will be potty training too. I have kind of given up. She will decide when shes ready just like everything else. I will keep offering it to her, but it's not really worth the fight. Speaking of which...

My Honey and I were talking about that a few weeks back. Miss I was doing something and one of us asked her to quit whatever it was. She kept on and we asked her again. Somewhere along the way we decided it wasn't worth fighting about so we quit worrying about it. I looked at him and said "Are we choosing the right battles?" and his answer "If I thought I could win one ..." pretty much sums up Miss I. We try, but we just don't win.

Last thing, my sister posted a rant about her new pets. It is totally hilarious to me! It is just so her! Take a looksee if you want.

And then it cooled off

Now its not so much a decision. Now its just back to chores. Laundry must be done. The weather broke, the highs are only in the 80's and I am glad I put the soft top on the jeep, it was 58 degrees this morning on my way to work at 0445.

I ended up entering two photos in the fair:


I hear they earned a blue ribbon and red ribbon... it wasn't worth it.

Priorities

I can't decide:
Clean laundry or the air conditioner?

Why do I have to make such choices? Because the downstairs A/C is hooked to the same fuse as the washer/dryer (one or both I have not figured out) so one has to go. I am choosing A/C today. When the highs are 110 and the lows are 80, its just too damned hot NOT to have every bit of A/C available. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this weather, I just wish I didn't have to make such silly choices.







I want to enter some photos in the county fair this week! Well, I have plans to, I still need to get them prepared and all that... just two days left is all, I better get on it.

7 minutes

Bubba and Miss I are eating dinner.
My Honey is golfing.
I have approximately 7 minutes to write.

They are trying my very little patience tonight. Why must a 6 year old go into the kitchen for a .... scratch that, I have a juice emergency ....

Sheesh. So much for 7 minutes. So where was I? Oh yeah, how is it that a 6 year old goes into the kitchen for a (oops had to serve seconds) he went into the kitchen for a towel to clean up a little spilled juice and had to take the long way around to get back to the table and while cleaning up the small juice spill he manages, well I guess it was THEY, managed to spill the whole dang cup of juice. Which I had to clean up, then the phone rings, Bubba needs seconds, Miss I is having a fit about a shoe (that isn't even hers) and so much for my 7 minutes.

Bubba was treated to a movie today, "Journey to the Center of the Earth". He described it as scary and good, "I liked it, we had 3-d glasses."

Miss I didn't get a nap today so she is a mess. Bed time soon! Holding her off till 6:30 if I can...

I read a great book last week "The Shack". Essentially its about, hmmm, how would I describe it? A man named Mack's interaction with God. Yeah, pretty much. Only not what you would think. Kind of in the way that "The 5 People You Meet In Heaven" isn't what you think its going to be. Very interesting, very applicable in many ways in my life right now. A good read if you are looking for one.

I am also reading a book (for the second time this summer) called "Why you do the things you do". Much more a psychology book than an easy read, but there were some "similar threads" as my friend put it. We are actually reading the book together and discussing it as we go along because it is so full of stuff that needs discussing! It hasn't been a read and digest book for me at all, its definitely one I needed to talk about at length with a trusted friend. I am thankful for her right now.

Which brings up Rose Colored Glasses. I know, PUHLEEZE...

But think about it, when you look at the world, even a small part of it, through nothing but negativity, then everything becomes negative. Try looking through those RCG's and everything (albeit slowly) becomes brighter. You know its true. Its just easier to be all crabby-ass about everything. To complain rather than look for the good in stuff, like say a juice emergency thats interrupts my blogging or a 2 year old that hasn't had a nap or a 6 year old that must take the long way around (every time). Really, in the grand scheme of things how bad are these things? Uh, not so much. Even the shit at work isn't that bad. Its just the same ol', same ol' with a different name this time. It all works out in the end.

Bubba is learning that there is more than one way to get into and out of the kitchen, Miss I is asserting her independence and showing us that we don't have to hold to a nap schedule EVERY day, and work, well, its family that is there for you in the end, right? So give work your 8 or 10 or 12 hours a day then leave it at the door. I know its all easier said than done, I failed miserably at seeing through RCG's when the juice spilled, I actually made a very loud, pissed off sound (but no swear words) that made the kids jump then laugh nervously, but I can see it now ... does that count?

I could go on, but not tonight, I have been given a strict bedtime of 7:30 (although theres no one here to make sure ...) so I must shove off. Just remember folks, try to see through your Rose Colored Glasses... maybe just once a day, take one little situation and think to yourself "it could be worse". Because we all know it could.