Style

I tell you what, we had style! 70's style. That is me and my sister in handmade outfits. Stylin'! (I'm guessing I was around 6 and she was 2, maybe 7 and 3 ... Bubba and Miss I's ages)

We've made it through two weeks with no accidents (except the ones I mentioned already) so I can confidently say Miss I is potty trained! She even used a bathroom in a restaurant at lunch today. Thank goodness that is over! But now she thinks she can tie her shoes, make a sandwich, buckle her car seat and all kinds of other big-kid things. Oh well, one thing at a time!

Spring break is going. Bubba was out of school on Thursday and Friday because of conferences - instead of 1/2 days all week, they just didn't have school at the end of the week. He spent those days at grandmas which was nice, he misses her. Monday we picked up Cousin M and went to see MONSTERS vs ALIENS. What a cool experience. I have not ever seen anything in 3D. Very cool! I would love to see that in an IMAX theater. The kids loved it!

Today he got to go to a YMCA program for the day. It's a good thing, he needs to get out of his comfort zone a little. Plus, I want him to go for a few weeks this summer so its good to get him a day or two experience!

What else? Soccer is in full swing. Practices this week and our first game on the 8th. Unfortunately there are 3 or 4 games I will miss because I will be out of town or working. I feel bad, but such is life.

While I was sick Bubba says to me "Mom, I like it when you're sick." I had a hunch what was coming next, and he didn't disappoint "Why Bub?" "Because you don't yell at us as much." Hmmmm, teachable moment "I like it when I am sick too, you listen to what I say and do it the first time so I don't have to yell as much." His response? "Oh."

A couple days later I was home sick from work, but cooking breakfast for the kids before school, and he says to me "Thanks for cooking breakfast even though you don't feel well Mom, that's really nice of you." Ain't he a sweet little suck up?

Blah

Pretty much sums up how I feel with a little crappy and a whole lotta achy thrown in. I have called out sick for the second day - actually I went into work this morning feeling like a truck had run me over, and I must have looked it too. I asked when the soonest I could leave was, expecting it to be a 5 or 7 at the earliest, turns out there was enough coverage for me to leave then! I should have called instead of wasting my energy getting out of bed. Oh well.

I can't stand it, though. There's only so much TV-watching, blog-reading and Internet-surfing I can do. Thankfully I am not puking up my guts or coughing up a lung, but at least then I would have a reason for feeling so crappy. It would be a good time to start working nights! I slept off and on all day so I am not tired yet ... Makes it easy to quit my two worst vices; caffeine and whiskey :) We'll see how long that lasts!

I plucked a few branches from my forsythia tree the other day and put them in some bud vases. Guess what? They're blooming! They look pretty cool on my mantle and add just a touch of spring. I want to try some bulbs some day, maybe next year. I also cut some limbs from my willow tree so I have a couple vases of pussy willow branches around the living room too. They always look cool, not really colorful, you know they're just grey, but they look cool anyway.

ugh

I feel sick. I hope a good nights rest will make it go away, not that I WANT to go to work, but I really don't want to stay home sick, plus, I have nearly earned another 10 hours of comp time by not calling out sick in the first quarter!

Actually, I just can't stand sitting around the house doing nothing, which is why I am feeling so poorly right now. I shouldn't have done all that laundry, all those dishes, vacuumed and stuff like that today, I should have just sat around.

Oh yeah, and potty training. I told myself I would do it on my next 4-day weekend (about 6 months ago) and finally did it. She's doing pretty good. Only 2 accidents in the past 5 days or so. I guess that's really not bad at all. Although one was a real mess, if you know what I mean. She is doing a great job of telling me when she has to go and we did a sticker chart for her to put a special sticker on. Its very motivating for her.

And that's all I got or else I will start to go into a tirade about other things ... and that just wouldn't be fair because I am only feeling tyrannical because I am getting sick.

Walt

I have a new friend. His name is Walt. He let me buy the shirt off his back and then he went into a dark hallway with me to take it off!

Last night at the WILD game there were fund-raising silent and live auctions to raise money for The Wellness Place, a local cancer support group organization. We originally bid in the silent auction on Miller's jersey, not because we know the kid, but because it's my maiden name. We didn't win that one. We did win the jersey off the mascot's back in the live auction! And, I remembered how much I love a good ol' auction! We used to go on a very regular basis but fell out of the habit after Bubba was born. So much fun! Maybe I will look into going more this year?

The game was great too! The WILD won. They are off to playoffs in April and we'll be there on both Friday and Saturday nights! I can't wait! Maybe I will wear my new giant size jersey!?

12/346

I don't use the word "hate" too often. Or at least I don't think I do. So I searched my blog for the word "hate". Guess what? It appears only 12 times in 346 blogs. I didn't check the content (read each entry), but I would assume I really mean it when I say it. I know for sure I meant it yesterday!

(Good thing for spell check, this whiskey is hitting me HARD! I should have had dinner)

I always wonder how dumb I am going to act when I see an old boyfriend or someone I had a crush on in town. It's pretty uncommon, but not that unlikely, since I live in the town where I grew up.

Anyway, I saw an old boyfriend tonight at the grocery store. Truth be told, I have not seen him in 6 years or better, and at least 3 years before that. I remember distinctly where he was working and that I was pregnant with Bubba. Interesting. Life throws iteresting curves at us. Not that I still have a thing for him, it just fits in weird with life right now. Thats all.

Spring

Well, spring is here. How do I know?

ANTS. Mother-trucking Ants.

I HATE ANTS. I hate that they get into my house, I hate that they get on the table, the carpet, the everything, I hate them. So I spent the past hour going around the perimeter of the house with ant killer-stuff. It pisses me off that they can even get into the house. Have I mentioned how much I hate them? I wish I could find a way to just kill them all at the beginning of the season and be done with it, but NO, they return, they have to be dealt with like 6 or 10 times each year. I hate them.

Whew! Now that that is out of the way, the good things about spring are: sunshine, my sunroof, the kids can play outside, sunshine, soccer starts (today), barbecuing, flowers and sunshine. Did I mention sunshine? Ah the sunshine. It's warming up too, it's more than fifty degrees today and that's nice because soccer practice won't be something to endure, it should be quite pleasant.

Speaking of soccer, Bubba has the same coach as last year. From what little I know about drafting teams, the coaches can usually choose a few, if not all, of their players and it makes me feel good that Coach B chose Bubba again! He's not a great player, so it will be nice that he knows the coach and at least one kid on the team.

As far as karate ... we are going to attempt to do both again this year. We might only do karate one night a week, depends on soccer practices and games, so the next six weeks or so will be busy, busy, busy. I wish it ended with a weekend at Guemes again, but I didn't get Memorial weekend off, in fact I work 3-12 hour shifts that weekend (Friday, Saturday and Sunday). It's going to be killer, plus, I may switch with another gal and work Monday as well. UGH. I think we should start planning something for May. Vegas maybe or a weekend of golf? We enjoyed Alta Lake last year ... not a bad thought!

Home

I'd like to go home, but the passes look very bad on the west side, so I think I will sit it out for another hour.

My trek to Seattle to see my sister yesterday was fun! We found a new place (to us) called Purple. It was a cafe & wine bar. Very cool. We went in because the exterior caught our eye. I didn't get a picture of that but I did get a couple inside that kind of captured the essence of the place.





I also got to see a little spring:

There won't be any of these around my house for another month or so.

For what?

I left home for this??

I am in Issaquah, usually a far cry from home weather-wise. And the same is true today. It's 40+ degrees and sunny at home, while it is in the 30's and snowing here! Seriously. It's usually the other way around. Weird. Glad I am not traveling today, the passes are a mess!

Its nice to be here, its quiet, nothing to do, nowhere to go :) I don't even have to shower or get of my jammies today if I don't want to.

Tomorrow I am going to meet my sister in Seattle for a little excursion. Not sure what we will do exactly. We ARE going to see the Seattle public library - don't ask, its kind of a weird thing I came across the other day - and find some "toys" (no, not that kind) you know, stuff that we can play with that will remind us to lighten up. I need some of that in my life.

Lent

I remember several years of ash crosses on my BFF's head in junior high and high school on the Wednesday of Lent (Ash Wednesday). Lent are the 40 days before Easter. A time of praying and fasting starting tomorrow.

I've never actually looked into what "Lent" really means, (until now) but aways took it to mean something like this: you give something up (fast) and when you really want it you pray. It's supposed to bring you closer to God.

In past years I have given plenty of things up "for lent." Swearing (nearly every year!), drinking, candy, caffeine, you name it ... well, nearly everything. And this year is no exception. I'm giving up un-necessary shopping. If it isn't necessary for every day survival, it ain't necessary. Oh the TORTURE!! I want new socks, and new jeans, and new shoes, and anything that will fit off the clearance rack! But that's the key, WANT. What do I really NEED? Socks? Maybe, but I can make it 40 days. Shoes? Hardly! Jeans? Not so much. So the torture part is staying out of the stores. I won't shop at Fred Meyer, too much temptation. I can't go near the mall - are you kidding me??? All those stores! And I am planning a trip to Issaquah in a few weeks. Does beer count as necessary? They have a Rogue Brewery there and it would be nice to stock up again. Needs vs wants!

But of course, timing is everything. Just as I embark on this journey the garage door breaks (replacement cost: $1000) some medical bills come due (health enhancement cost: $250) and we have a big weekend full of expenses (date night, family night and thank goodness it was pay day: priceless!) So it all works out. Plus, it is teaching me and the kids to THINK ABOUT WHAT I/WE ARE SPENDING MY/OUR MONEY ON. (Well, me mostly, but its nice to think it might influence the kids too!)

Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiild!

Winner, winner chicken dinner!

The Wild won their 4th home game in a row. Royal Sweep!! What fun, and it only took about 7 minutes before the first fight broke out. Somewhere along the way in the 3rd period the visiting team was penalized and lost a player from the ice - I have no idea how that happened, but it did. What a game! Final score was 6 to 3. GO WILD!

We had a great time, Sunday night games are now number one for me. Small crowds, early start time and fun, fun, fun! We were able to get the kids' bells (I don't know why, but ringing cow bells is cool at games) autographed by the goalie (who did a great job tonight) so that was fun too! We should have brought McDonald's to the game though, it was expensive to feed the 4 of us from the concession stand!

DW did an awesome job with the kids' pictures! Isn't she the best? And that's just a few of the 35 she sent home with me. Now I need to pick and print some for my dad, myself and the other grandparents.

Fun, Fun, Fun

This weekend is full of stuff and I am so excited!

We are going to a concert tomorrow up at Mission Ridge and to a hockey game on Sunday. So far no plans for tonight, probably just a nice quiet night in (not to mention that I have been up since 2am so I will probably crash around 8.) And no plans yet for Saturday-day, we're leaving for the Ridge around 4, or Sunday-day since the game isn't until 5, but I am looking so forward to both things. The concert is just a me and My Honey (oh, and the other 100 people at the Lodge, but who's counting) and the game is a family deal so we get to spend some time together and some time with the kids.

This afternoon my girl DW is taking the kids' pictures. I wanted to do something around Christmas, but, well, the holidays got away from us.

DW is quite talented in the taking-pictures-of-people arena, I know she's nervous because she thinks I have talent too, but not for people, she's the people-person! Give me plants and stuff like that and I do alright. Fortunately, its nice outside today, so we might be able to get some outdoor shots that are good! I want to be able to take some to my Dad's house in a couple weeks so they can have nice updated pictures of the kids. And I would like some too!

It should be a fun weekend, if not exhausting!

Two in a row!

So far (knock on wood) the Big Girl Bed Experiment is working. Miss I went to bed without incident, didn't fall out of the bed all night and stayed in bed until I told her it was okay to get up.

Nap time she went down without incident, has stayed in bed although she is awake, and will hopefully remain there until I tell her it's alright to get up even though Bubba gets go be up already. The only issue we have run into is her asking to keep the door open. I told her no. She's never slept with the door open and I don't want to start now. Bubba on the other hand, for some reason I gave in when he was little and let him start to sleep with the door open. Silly me. We could have so much more privacy if he slept with the door closed.

We went to the play gym today. What fun! They have these bungee-jumping things that the kids tried today. I am trying to think of how to explain them, but suffice it to say they get hooked to elastic hooked to the rafters and they can jump around. Bubba tried first and had a lot of fun, we hooked him to two cords on each side so he could go REALLY high and he was a nervous wreck. Then Miss I did it and she was pretty nervous too. I am proud of both of them for trying something new.

It has snowed for the past few days. Nothing that's accumulating much, but still. So today it feels really cold to me even though its 40 degrees. I think its the 100% humidity that's doing it.

Wish me luck

I just finished re-arranging Miss I's room including a Big Girl Bed. I am a little scared about what the night holds, but she didn't get a nap today (and I don't think I will give her one tomorrow either) so we should be in pretty good shape.

I was a tad bit inspired (or wanted to be as cool as, or maybe I wanted my 3 year old to be keeping up with the 1 1/2 year old) by my gal DW. She already has her little one in a Big Girl Bed so I had to get on the ball. I swear if she got Cate potty trained this weekend I am calling out sick until Miss I uses the toilet ... get ready to work some OT GF!!!

No school tomorrow, so I had originally planned on doing Miss I's room then, but what kind of a way is that to spend the day off?? So I decided since I was off at 1:00 I would do it then and then we can go to the play gym tomorrow morning and work on cleaning Bubba's room and some of the rest of the house in the afternoon.

I just want to add that I disassembled the crib, carried it out to the garage, disassembled one of the bunk beds and reassembled it all by myself to get this job accomplished. Not to mention I mopped her floor and scrubbed the walls (they're red and were showing all the dust and stuff accumulated over the past year or so.) Yeah, stud, I know!

For Valentine's Day me and My Honey went out for a late lunch/early dinner and then to a movie. We saw "Taken". Very good flick unless you have a teenage girl headed overseas! We arrived during the previews, and the theater was packed so we ended up sitting in the SECOND ROW - right. Needless to say it was pretty close! I wondered several times how it would have been if I had had my glasses on. Sad isn't it to reach a ripe old age of wondering if I would have been able to see better if I was wearing glasses.

So there's the highlights of the past week - oh except for being called for jury duty. Yeah, they didn't want me. Whew! I wish I could say it was a beautiful day for a drive or that I was able to get some wonderful pictures in Waterville, but alas, it was foggy, cold and not the kind of day I wanted to be pulling over on the side of the road. Needless to say, it was an interesting experience getting to go through the process (sans the hard-ass bench I had to sit on for two long, drawn out hours) to hear the kinds of stuff the attorneys were asking the jury pool. Interestingly it was a criminal case so I am actually interested in the outcome and will be watching the "news of record" section of the paper to see what happened.

So that's it. For those of you off tomorrow, have a great holiday!

Another walk

I had a few free minutes yesterday and Porter's Pond called again. Its not THAT beautiful this time of year, but I kind of have a hankering to get year-round photos. You know a Spring, Winter, Fall and Summer set. We shall see.

I signed Bubba up for soccer, which should start sometime near Spring break, but I just heard today that there might be an instructional hockey league for K-2nd grade.... THAT would be fun!!! So, depending on what I find out, and if Bubba is interested, we may just drop karate and forfeit soccer money for hockey! (No pressure, Bubba. No pressure.)

We read a really cute book tonight called "Enemy Pie." A very cute story about treating everyone with kindness. Well, Bubba went to bed and promptly created his enemy list. Oh boy, now I have some 'splaining to do.

Miss I was so danged cute the other day.

We were just hanging out at home while Bubba was in school on Monday. I was pre-occupied by my laptop and she was doing something much less important so I asked her to get a diaper from her room for me.

She acknowledged me "okay mama" but didn't go get it. I asked her like 8 times to go get a diaper, finally using my "Mom" voice and she still didn't go (neither did I mind you, the computer was much too important.)

Finally, in a last ditch effort to get her to "obey" I used "The Mom Voice" combined with "The Look" to get compliance. She walked over to me, nose to nose, and says "Mama, don' talk to me 'ike 'at." What was I supposed to do? I laughed! She is so funny. It was like looking in a mirror and hearing a recording of ME. Scary!

Needless to say I told her off and she went to get the diaper. Little booger.

Not quite Spring

I went for a walk today, here's my favorite pix. How lucky am I to live here??

BTW it was nearly 50 degrees and sunny, which was soooooooo nice!

Mo' Hockey

One of our friends plays hockey on a women's team in town. She texted me to let us know what time they were playing today so we could go to watch her play. It was fun, I was surprised how many people I actually knew that were playing. She and several others I know have suggested quite a few times that I should try. AS IF. First, I don't skate well (seems like that would be a crucial skill). Second, it takes a ton of time. Practices, games, tournaments, traveling here and there. Third, what about my family? Fourth, they don't get in fights!

(Side note, My Honey just made me some hot chocolate with something adult in it ...mmmm)

BUT ... after watching them today I might look into it next year. I can learn to skate (at least that's what my friends have told me). It might not be that much time. Traveling sounds kind of like fun to me! The family actually all enjoy hockey. And they were pretty aggressive today using their bodies to block and stuff like that. And the laughter!! They were all laughing at each other. Even the opposing team! What kind of fun would that be? A gaggle of girls laughing at each other?

So the idea is still there. Has been for about 4 years now. Maybe its time to put it into action? Plus, how cool does a hockey player look in all their gear?

Successes

So we are going to keep Karate. Bubba was promoted into the beginning class for 7 years and older. Thank goodness!! I was seriously about one week away from taking him out! It should be a good change. (Yes, I did talk to the owners of the studio. I don't know if that really had anything to do with it, but I feel better having done it.)

LK and Mason were here for the weekend. WHEW! It's a lot of fun to have them over :) But its exhausting in many ways too! Thanks, LK for keeping up on my dishes and helping with dinner and bed time and everything you did. INCLUDING an early morning workout! She got to see the sun on her way home and I am WAY jealous of that.

One of the dispatchers I helped train was shipped to Afghanistan a few months ago as a National Guardsman with the Army. He is home on R & R for two weeks and tonight there was a get together at one of the local Mexican joints. I am bummed I missed it, it would have been fun. Unfortunately, it started at 7pm and I work at 3am so .... well, you do the math! Not only that, the kids would have been up way too late. I can't wait to hear the tale of how much fun everyone had!

And lastly ... well, I don't have a lastly. Back to work tomorrow/tonight/later - what ever you want to call 7 hours from now.

Rime

From Wikipedia
"Soft rime is a white ice deposition that forms when the water droplets in light freezing fog or mist freeze to the outer surfaces of objects, with calm or light wind. The fog freezes usually to the windward side of tree branches, wires, or any other solid objects."

This phenomena has been occurring at my house and above for the past two weeks. I kept wanting to get a picture ... but this just doesn't do it justice. Its pretty cool to see just one side of a tree with frost on it, or the last 10 rows of an orchard all frosted out. I guess the fog is good for something... It's certainly not good for my disposition! But I am trying to see positive things and keep my chin up anyway :)

My sister and nephew have been here since Saturday. We had a fun-filled weekend. Saturday night we went to Mission Ridge to see Michael Carlos. He was very good. Kind of a light rock, Latino sort of coffee house guy.

Sunday we sat around like bumps on a log most of the day. Our step-dad visited for awhile and then My Honey watched all three kids while we went to a late lunch.


Today we took the kids to the play gym. They had a really good time. They're all trying to get a nap/quiet time in right now. Pretty sure Miss I is out, she played really, really hard.


Tonight they're going to my mom's for dinner. I don't know how all that will work out for us, there is Karate tonight where we find out how he did on his promotional test last week, school tomorrow and I would like to go to Bible Study. So I think we are going to skip it.

It was fun watching Bubba at the play gym, it happens to be at the same place where Miss I takes her gymnastics. He loved all the equipment, I wonder if we should change it up a little? Put him in gymnastics instead of Karate? We are pretty close to taking him out right now as it is. The plan is to hang in there until soccer in April and see what happens then. I don't think I want to do soccer, gymnastics and karate this spring. It sounds exhausting doesn't it?

Die Hard

I have worked out like 4 or 5 times since I changed shifts, and I just wanted to make a note of how I am feeling about it:

I am a little sore, but not too bad. I can't even run 10 minutes yet, but I haven't been running in several months, probably not since June or July, I don't think I went in the fall. I have done 2 (early morning) strength training classes that were pretty good. I wish the instructor was a little more form-oriented instead of letting us get by with slop, but what can you do? I did an early morning aerobics class this week too. Same instructor, same complaint. It sure is good to sweat though and I KNOW what good form is, I used to teach for Pete's sake so I just need to be a little more self-critical.

I feel good though. Yesterday I actually noticed I was a little more high energy and a little less crabby. But I am SO MUCH HUNGRIER! I need to remember to eat a little bit all day long and to keep up on the protein.

Speaking of hungry, I made this soup tonight. Easy, cheap and mmm mmm good. It would probably freeze nicely too since there aren't any potatoes in it.

Resolution

Ahhhh, finally. The computer runs much better.

After My Honey tried to do something on my laptop, he realized it was running really, really slow and had this GREAT idea: why don't we un-install and reinstall everything? I love it when HE has a great idea! Stuff gets done. Pretty much I was afraid to do it. If I ruin some kind of electronic equipment I will never live it down, if he does something wrong, on the other hand ... Well, suffice it to say that I wouldn't EVER make him feel bad about it since I didn't want to do it in the first place!

So I spent a couple hours saving things to our external hard drive-thing and then he spent a couple hours working on it reinstalling everything and BAM! The thing runs like its brand new. I promise not to download stupid things ever again. :)

A couple girls from work and I went to Mission Ridge for their music series on Saturday night. Fun, fun, fun! I can't wait to go back on the 21st of Feb for Fat Happy. They're a fun local group of guys I went to school with. My Honey and I actually talked about taking a lesson and skiing that day too. Stay tuned to see how that turns out.

LK is coming to town this weekend! YAY! I took Sunday off so we can hang and there isn't any school on Monday so we'll do something fun with all the kids.