Continuation

Auntie Dani is still here. Its been a real treat. My Honey and I have actually been able to steal away for a few minutes here and there. Even for a walk around the block it has been nice to just say "Do you mind, we'll be right back." Kind of a freedom we haven't had in a long time. Well, ever since kids! I have decided that everyone needs a 16 year old!

We had a great weekend! Saturday we got the pool set up. My Honey had worked hard on getting the ground level, and it was time. So we got it out and set it up. Later that day was some friends of the family 50th wedding anniversary. It was a nice event out in the sticks. We got to see lots of old friends and their grown up kids! Play in the sun, swim, all kinds of fun stuff. Miss I missed her nap so we left while the party was still going on to take the kids home, feed them and get them to bed. Since we had a babysitter we went back to the party! We had dinner on the way out there and crashed the party. They had a movie screen set up for an outdoor movie, so we all found a chair, sat around the movie screen and watched a flick outside. It was really fun! Kind of like the drive in, only better because you knew everyone. There must have been 40 of us between the ages of 3 and 83 watching "Wild Hogs" it was really fun.

Sunday My Honey and I went golfing which was really nice. We played early before it got too hot, and I did alright. I still don't keep score, but my drives are improving and my putting was a lot better than the last two times. They have a womens clinic every Thursday evening, I might go check it out. For $15 a little extra practice with some instruction can't hurt.

Did I mention that I played in a golf tournament last week? No, I kind of lost last week. Even though I have Auntie Dani here I sure haven't gotten much time at the computer. There was a dispatch-techie conference in town last week which included a golf tournament. I talked a couple of people from work into playing. It was free, what did we have to lose besides our self respect? Turns out one of the guys I recruited played with the winning team! My team was only 3 strokes from LOSING! But it was fun.

Sunday afternoon, while My Honey golfed some more, we spent in the pool. The kids love it even though its FREEZING cold. Although, it was 100+ yesterday so it was pretty refreshing! The chemicals aren't balanced though so we are working on that. We all got quite a bit of sun and I didn't feel like cooking so McDonalds it was. Quick, easy, cool inside.

Today we are headed to the water park. Miss I gets to stay with Grammy while Bubba, Dani and I go. It should be fun, fun, fun!

I am pretty sure we will be going through withdrawal when Dani leaves! All this freedom gone. We'll work it out!

Working Girl

Whew! Its been a busy few days. Auntie Dani arrived by plane into town on Friday. I was just a little freaked out ... My 21 year old step-brother was flying her. He had an instructor with him and it was all cool, but I still worried. But they made it here and all is well. I REALLY like having a live in sitter, the kids are loving having her here and she is really great with the kids. Its been fun all around so far.

I worked two long shifts this weekend where I went to work at 3am so it made for some long days. This week Bubba has a day camp program he goes to and he had a blast today. They got to eat lunch with the Apple Blossom Royalty. When I asked him what they were like he said "The princesses looked like working girls."

"Working girls?"
"Yeah you know, like you?"
"Like me?" What do you mean?"
"You know, button up shirts, name tags. Working Girls."
"Oh, you mean girls that have jobs ...."
Not what I think of when I hear the phrase "working girls" but it makes for a good story!

Tuesday

Why is it that a boy/girl combination is so much easier than a boy/boy combination?

I swear I don't even know Bubba and Emilee are playing together they have been so quiet all day! They have played in the tree house, dug in the dirt looking for worms to "fish" with from the windows of the tree house, they rode bikes a little I think, they played with blocks, all kinds of stuff and they were absolutely angelic about it. I sure hope Bubba and Miss I are as good at DW's house! And if they aren't, I just want to apologize in advance, "Sorry DW!" :) I am sure they will all be just fine.

I even fed them a nutritious lunch of gummy worms, cake and coke! Just kidding, they got grilled cheese, and apples. Snacks were grapes and some cheetos. MMMMM. What a good mom huh? I nearly let them get ice cream from the ice cream man, but no one came running out to ask for some so I just let him drive on by. Its a rare day when the ice cream man doesn't drive by in the summer so we have to limit our purchases to weekends only or else we would be dishing out 30 or 40 dollars a week to that guy.

Happy Birthday Honey

It was a very nice Fathers Day/Birthday weekend.
My Honey was born on Fathers Day in 1967, so every once in a while his birthday falls on the actual holiday. Not this year, today is his birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY :)

Thankfully it was my long weekend (plus an extra day off this Wednesday) so I didn't have to stress about how to get Fathers Day stuff in. It just worked out.

We started out on Sunday morning with breakfast in bed. Bubba was adamant that his Dad wanted "cheezy eggs, pineapple and toast." So thats what he got. We putzed around the house, I mowed while everyone else washed the Jeep. Its so pretty now! We finally got the hard top off Saturday! After lunch, the boys went golfing while I did a little cleaning and then me and Miss I took much needed naps.
(the boys going golfing in the clean, topless Jeep)

My SIL planned a Fathers Day/Birthday BBQ at her house Sunday night so dinner was a piece of cake. AND... I actually made a dessert. I baked an apple pie. I know, don't fall out of your chair, I baked an apple pie. It was pretty good too. It happens to be My Honey's favorite (not necessarily MY apple pie, but apple pie in general).

Then home and to bed. It was a pretty full day but it was also pretty relaxing.

I worked a short overtime shift on Saturday morning (3am - 7am) then My Honey went golfing. Then kids and I packed up their bikes and went to the farmers market, on a short walk/bike ride then grocery shopping. It was a pretty nice day, but tiring. I tried to take a nap but it just didn't work out. We went to a party on Saturday night. Fun stuff! One of my officer-friends moved into a new house so he had a house warming/college graduation (for his wife) party. It was a pretty good time. I am sure there is a lot I missed out on, we left after the first two rounds of Jagermeister shots (which were yummy)... It was fun to get to know some of the newer officers, one in particular is very funny (and very young!) he had nicknames for a few of us girls - Mountain Lion, Puma, stuff like that. They were calling him Boy Toy. I am pretty sure thats going to stick. The next time I talk to him on the phone its going to be "Hey Boy Toy, hows it going?"

My MIL is leaving town today or tomorrow to go to Portland so we had a bunch of babysitting challenges for the next couple weeks. Wednesday I took off, Thursday My Honey took off, and Friday Auntie M is watching the kids. Friday afternoon my youngest sister Dani comes to town, she will be here for awhile (maybe through the 4th) to help out! Check this out: I was trying to work out transportation logistics for her and her brother offered to fly her over! He is training to be a pilot so he worked it out with his instructor to get a plane for Friday. Its a great big help, but stresses me out!!! I will be much better once she is safely on the ground here and he is safely on the ground in Renton.

My MIL is going to stay with Auntie Portland. My niece was born with a cleft soft palate and its time for the surgery to repair it. I am also a little stressed about that. She is 11 months old and will go under full anesthesia for the surgery. Its not an uncommon surgery, but its not a routine thing either. Anyway, I will also feel better after I hear that her surgery is complete and she is awake and doing well.

And then there's today . . .

So far so good. Best Buddy and Sister are spending the day here. Its actually not that bad to have a couple extra kids around. Miss I and Sister play pretty good considering Sister is 9 and Miss I is 2. I think Sister looks at it as a chance to sort of babysit she did a very nice job getting Miss I to eat breakfast this morning and helping to get her in the car and everything else! It will be an interesting afternoon trying to get Miss I to nap while the big kids are playing ... I think I will make everyone take a 30 minute rest time so she has a chance to fall asleep while its quiet.

The rest of the week is pretty busy. I have an extra kid tomorrow too, Emilee, she is my girl DW's daughter. She and Bubba are the same age so it should be fun. Plus we have karate Monday and Wednesday and it seems like there is something else... but it escapes me right now. Maybe it is work Thursday through Sunday? Maybe that was it.


And lastly, we have a new pet. "Cadi" I found Cadi at Guemeus and brought it home. I wasn't sure if it would make it or not but so far so good. Bubba took it to his class for the last week of school, hoping it would do its cocoon thing, but it didn't. Still hasn't.

Looking out for Mom

I was at my Moms house earlier today and she pointed the yellow rose out to me. I know it isn't the prettiest rose anymore, but its the story I wanted to tell.

The red rose plant was a mothers day gift to another tenant at the apartment complex from her son. Her son passed away sometime that year. Every year since then the red rose bush blooms with one yellow rose. As if he is watching out for her every spring.

Graduation Day

It was Kindergarten Graduation Day today!
Bubba's teacher did a great job of doing her thing. She barely made it through her "welcome parents" speech without crying, but she did it! She read a little biography for each kid which was included with their end-of-school-packet. Here is Bubba's:

"Bubba is 6 years old. His favorite colors are blue and orange. Bubba's favorite thing to do at school is to play on the playground. His favorite things to do at home are make snowmen in the winter and swim in the summer. Bubba's favorite food is SUGAR." (Note: the teacher did a spot-on imitation of him saying "SUGAR", it was great!)
In twenty years Bubba will be 26 years old and he will work construction. He said he will always live with his parents. He will not get married and he will not have kids. Bubba will have 1 dog. When Bubba isn't working he will go golfing with his dad and Uncle Danny."

Isn't that priceless? I loved it! I am not so sure I always want him living with us, but he's only 6 so its alright for him to think that he will always live here isn't it?

Weekly Review

What a week! School is nearly out so the kids have been doing fun stuff this week. Wednesday was Field Day and Thursday they went on a tour of the fire department.

Did you have Field Day at the end of the school year in elementary school? We did, all throughout the year we would practice the stuff that would be at field day; 3-legged race, sack races, wheelbarrow races, 50 and 100-yard dashes, relays all that stuff so we could win the coveted 1st, 2nd or 3rd place ribbons. I am not much of a competitor myself, I don't recall ever winning a ribbon (well, maybe 3rd place once, but I doubt it and I definitely didn't win any 1st place ribbons).

Well, it ain't so anymore!! There are no longer winners or losers, everyone participates in "group activities". It was a lot of fun though and they had it pretty well organized. I volunteered for the morning and ended up working a station that was called the "Pig Push". The kids started with sideways jumping jacks or crabwalk or running to a cone, there they picked up a bat-type thing with foam on the end and they pushed or swung low at a foam pig through the grass round a second cone and back to the first cone where they did the jumping jacks or what-ever back to the start. It was all of 2 minutes for each kid but they had fun - and remember there were no winners or losers. They stayed at our station for about 10 minutes then they moved on to the next station where there was a different activity. In all there might have been 15 stations.

I had a blast. It was a time to act all goofy and be a kid. I asked all the kids their names, who their teachers were, dumb stuff, but we all got along and they seemed to like me (well they acted like they did regardless).

My Honey went with Bubbas class to the fire department on Thursday. They took a bus down there and then had a tour and climbed into a fire engine. I had meant to call and ask if I could do an announcement while they were there, since I was at work and how cool would that have been for Bubba to hear my voice on the radios at the fire department? He still remembers hearing my voice on an officers radio as he passed by during the Fourth of July one year at the park! But I am a loser and forgot to call so I missed my opportunity. Dang. Maybe another time.

One day of school left ... well sort of, they "graduate" on Monday and thats it! Then he is a First Grader. What ever will I do? Full days of school, packing a lunch every day, having fights about why he can't take hot lunch all the time, homework every night. Yikes!

Work has been busier and busier which is nice! Today was one of our officers birthdays, his radio number is 5 so I called him "Birthday5" every so often. He's usually quite a crank, but I think he liked it, he didn't crank at me once today! It was fun to add some fun to work too. My bosses didn't seem to mind so that was nice too.

New Book

In the mail today was the book Dearly Departed written by my friend Mikki Hauso! So far its a great read. It takes off at a break-neck speed, has a great story and a lot of wonderful language. I can't wait to finish it and call her and tell her I loved it!

I am kind of a book nerd, I guess, I almost always read the acknowledgments and the introductions to books, and boy am I glad I did on this one. My good buddy Mikki mentions me. I'm published!! Just kidding, but you know. Its pretty fun and humbling all at the same time. She and I have been friends for nearly 30 years I guess, and have not really kept in touch regularly since our 20's, she moved away so we just don't get together or call that often, but I guess I am still as special to her as she is to me. Needless to say, I was and am touched.

So I am off to read some more, its a rainy day, and the kids are resting.

Who'd A Thunk?

You Are 77% Feminist

You are certainly a feminist - whether you know it or not. You believe in gender equality, at least most of the time. You also believe there are a few exceptions.

Are You a Feminist?

A little distracted

MY 3 H'S

Blowing Bubbles

Flying Solo

Grandpa Helping

Miss I

Bubba

There you have it, pics from Memorial Day. Didn't I tell you it was beautiful?!

My Honey and I decided to get away this past weekend, just the two of us. So we spent the week talking about where to go and what to do and where the kids should go. Finally, last Thursday evening, everything came together.

My sister watched Bubba and my MIL watched Miss I. We decided Lake Chelan would be a wise, close, fun choice so we called around looking for a place to stay. Most places were $200 (per night) and booked Saturday night so we went a little further north. We ended up staying in Pateros at a little known place that was only $90 per night (for a kitchenette) and, AND its on a golf course so we got to golf too! It was great. Close enough to Lake Chelan to visit and eat there, away enough that we didn't feel too close to home. And, AND we got to golf.

Its been YEARS since I golfed regularly. Like at least 6. The last time I was golfing regularly, we took a golfing vacation for our 10th anniversary to Reno, but that was almost 7 years ago. Golfing was a lot of fun, I forgot how much I enjoyed it. My Honey even suggested that I take a lesson to improve my swing -No, its not like that, it was a welcome suggestion, and it would be a nice way to spend some time for myself. Plus I wouldnt look like such a fool. I was a hacker this weekend! Bad news!

The kids are a wreck!! They are both over-tired and in bed already (its 7:00). Bubba had a really good time at Auntie Em's:
"We went on a hike and saw a bull snake and two lizards, and jumped off a rock, and I climbed up it by myself without Uncle Doug's help the second time and we went to get Slurpees and I had a Dilly Bar and we slept in the tent only I didn't like it so we ended up sleeping in Madi's room and last night we slept in her parents room." And on and on all in one breath!

Miss I had a good time at Grandmas too. She just didn't sleep very late and I am sure that Grandma let her stay up "until she seemed tired." I can't wait until my kids have kids!!!
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I went to tuck Bubba in the other night and he was sitting on his bed with an old, un-charged cell phone messing with the buttons. I asked him what he was doing and he says to me "Texting ML."

ML is a girl he went to preschool with, her dad works with My Honey, but we have never gotten the kids together. (You know, boys and girls.)

"Really, what are you texting her?" I ask.
(Prepare yourselves)
"I love you" he tells me in kind of a whispery voice.
"WHAT??!!" I want to scream, "YOU ARE ONLY 6!!"

It's killing me how fast kids grow up these days. Really it is. Several times a week I get calls from parents whose 14 or 15 year old daughter has a kid or is pregnant. And now my 6 year old is already declaring his undying love to another 6 year old. Yikes!
Needless to say, it was all I could do not to laugh out loud. It sure was cute though.

To and Fro

Well, we made it to and fro and we are no worse for wear!

It was GORGEOUS in the San Juan Islands! Pictures of clear blue skies to follow. It was fun to be a part of a ... well, I don't even know what to call it. A resort I guess. It's the same folks going to the Resort for the last two and three decades. It was amazing how quickly the kids got together, the adults just mesh and the newcomers (thats us) were welcomed.

I had a wonderful time, so did the kids. The beach was great, the food was divine, the company was fun (and some of them were drunk) and the teenagers were a hoot! I bonded with a few of the 13-year-old set over the campfire Sunday night. They are such cute ditzes a that age. I had a good time, I hope they did too.

My sister was hanging out with the 16-19-year-old set and I took the time to hang with them too (actually we were avoiding Very Drunk Anoying Woman.) The teens were in the rec room watching video stream of something or other so I started to twenty question Steven on how "video streaming" worked. Apparently its different than downloading (who knew?) ... One of the girls, Michelle, asked me "what do you do?" as in my job. It caught me off guard, its not the type of question I am EVER asked. So I told her I was a dispatcher, why did she want to know. Turns out her mom is a dispatcher too. She wondered because of my questions. It was funny.

Anyway, those are just a few of the fun things. Bubba made a new friend, Miss I had a blast in the sand and rocks, we all got SUNBURNED!! In western Washington none-the-less! And now we are home safe and sound.

Weekend recap

Not a bad start to my vacation. Several days of My Kind of Weather (90*), sunburn from sitting out in My Kind of Weather reading a book (Vanishing Act by Jodi Picoult), two trips to the park to play in the water, runs at the park yesterday and today, church, just hanging around and shopping for food for the weekend. Not bad at all.

I was the wrong person to go shopping today though!! Our job is to bring snack foods and THEY ALL LOOKED GOOD. I bought one of nearly everything Costco carries. For shame! We are all gonna gain 18 pounds from eating snack-crap and drinking all weekend. Wouldn't you know they had a plenty-pack of Fat Tire available. But it will be fun and worth it, its only a few times a year right?

Hmmm, well I thought I had a lot to say today, but it seems not. I will leave you with this picture of the kids a week or so ago. They were having a snack outside or something and Bubba thought he needed to balance something on his head. Such a clever kid.

Summer time ahhhh

Bless his heart, after a HOT day playing golf My Honey put the air conditioners in for me tonight. Well, I guess it would be for us, since we all benefit. Its just hard to cool the house down if its still 90* at 8pm. I think the motivating factor might have been Bubba.

He was all done. He played soccer in 80* weather, went to a birthday party, then played in the sprinklers and then, we went to the park to play in the water. It was just too much. Poor guy pretty much passed out an hour after we got home (after he had thrown up twice.) He just doesn't tolerate a lot of physical activity on an empty stomach or in the heat. Its kind of a weird phenomenon.

Just one more work day and we are outta here!! yay!

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.