Keepin' it real

I had a conversation the other day with a friend who is a also a fellow mom/blogger. We were musing on the tricky situation with kids and blogging about them. I have this blog to talk about life, My life. And sometimes life is great, and kids are great, and everything is great, and sometimes, not so much. So that's where the tricky situation falls into play, I don't want my kids to feel bad about themselves because all I do is bag on them in such a public way, but some days that's life. Some days are full of stuff like the oven breaking, someone losing their glasses in a lake, rooms that refuse to be clean, bad grades.....

There's the good stuff too, and I try to share much of that, have a good balance.

So where's the line? What about posting pictures of a little girl's room that is always a disaster, and I have been waiting for the past 6 weeks for her to keep it clean so I can finish fixing it up. I still have to caulk and paint the beadboard, and hang up everything on the walls. I'll have to move furniture and stuff, and I don't think I should be the one to clean the room first so I can move the furniture to paint the beadboard, AND it feels like if she doesn't care enough to make her bed and pick up her clothes, why should I care if her room doesn't get finished?!? THAT IS LIFE. (The pictures don't even do it justice- you can't even see the huge pile of clothes on the other side of the bed.)
Is that terrible that sometimes I use my blog as a threat? Once I walked into Nick's total disaster of a room, took a picture of him in the middle of it all, and said "Clean it, or I'm blogging about it." Obviously he cleaned it, because I never posted his shame for all to see. (I can't find it to post it now- I think someone "accidentally" deleted it.) Public humiliation doesn't seem to deter Madison though, she just glared at me, rolled her eyes, and proceeded to ignore me (I think she's practicing to be a teenager) However, she did clean it in record time when I told her she couldn't go to a party.

But then there's the other stuff, the stuff that makes my heart break a little. Like Nick getting kicked out of Honor's English. We're crossing our fingers it will all be for the best, and he will love his new teacher, and maybe it will be one of those blessing in disguise kind of thing, but right now, I think Nick feels pretty bad about it. He doesn't talk much. There's not much to say. It is what it is. In many ways things are better with school this year, but obviously we're still working on issues.

Of course anyone under the age of 5 is fair game. I figure that what they can't read won't hurt them. Besides, they always have that iron clad excuse of just being a little kid and not knowing any better. So when I post pictures of finding Christopher's attempt to make a sandwich, which for whatever reason includes driving his favorite Lightning McQueen car on the semi prepared pieces of bread, well that's just pure entertainment (for me, and possibly a grandparent or two).
I guess what I am trying to say is I hope my kids forgive me some day, and will still come and visit me when I am old.

Good bye toddlerhood...

...Hello little boy hood.

My baby is growing up.

Instead of a vocabulary consisting of just nouns (ball, car, shirt, etc) he's starting to string words together. At this very moment as I sit here and type this, he is using his very favorite sentence " Mo-om, ah ya you?" (Mom, where are you?) If I am not in his sight, you can bet I'll be hearing those words over and over again (no matter how many times I answer him). Sometimes I don't even have to be out of his sight.

But the biggest clue my baby is growing up is that we have graduated from Blues Clues to Disney's Cars. It is now the #1 asked for show in the house. He still likes to sit on his nasty red thinking chair propped on my couch and watch it, but generally he will have either a) his Cars pillow, b) Zach's Cars blanket (from when he got surgery on his you-know-what), c) a large stuffed Mamer (Mater), d) one or more Cars toys in his clutches, or e) all of the above.

A couple times in the past week I've even found him sound asleep on the floor clutching at least one toy car in his hands. I'm happy to be done with Blues Clues. It's been apart of our lives for a decade now, but I think I can say good-bye. (sarcasm- it doesn't translate too well in the written word). I'm good with substituting toy cars strewn from one end of the house to the other instead of the massacred handy- dandy notebooks and envelopes- ("We just got a letter!")

Not to worry though, I still have about three more milestones (that I can think of off the top of my head) before he's a real little boy and I am officially done with baby/toddler hood- We need to move him from the crib to a big boy bed (should happen by the end of the year), he needs to be potty trained (I am afraid the kid might have to potty train himself. I do not jest when I say "Zach broke me."). And finally after he is potty trained, I can send him to pre-school. And we all know that exactly 14 seconds after I drop him off for the first time I will burst into tears.

Bitter sweet it is, this thing of having your baby grow up.

Two for One

They say there's a thin line between genius and insanity, and at this moment I'm not sure what side of the line we're on.

In our house our car situation was this- I had a 2003 Yukon XL. We got it used, and had 6 more months (give or take) of payments on it, and then it would be totally paid for. It had almost 120,000 miles on it. We weren't crazy about the gas mileage, but it could haul all our kids and our crap anywhere, and it had been fairly reliable, up until the 100,000 mile mark.

John had a 2005 Nissan Altima. We still owed more than it was worth, and it spent most of it's time parked at the airport. There were several months when we would make the car payment and pay the insurance so John could have usage of it to and from the airport. (what a waste!)

John was in town last week and we noticed the tires on his car were in desperate need of replacing. Finances were tight this pay period, so we parked the car in the driveway and shared my car all week. And it wasn't that big of a deal. Pretty painless, actually.

So we came up with our brilliant plan- trade in both cars for a new(er) car for me. John could take the shuttle to and from the airport (work pays for that) when it's not convenient for me to drop him off. When he's in town he works from home (mostly studying).

I am now driving a 2007 Suburban, it looks pretty similar to my last car, with less than 20,000 miles on it. My older car was nicer in some areas, (leather seats, DVD player) but beggars can't be choosers. We got a great deal on it thanks to a friend, and with only one car payment now, that means extra money in our pocket each and every month.

Crazy? Genius? I guess time will tell.

A guest in my own house

During the summer months, our master bedroom has a couple of things going against it. For starters it's above the garage. (Hot air rises) Secondly, it has a big west facing glass block window in the adjoining bathroom, which besides letting in a lot of natural light without sacrificing privacy, it creates an insufferable atmosphere in the late afternoon/evening. Needless to say it's been years since I thought the glass blocks were a good idea.

The point that I am getting at is that my bedroom is painfully, obviously, several degrees hotter than the rest of my house. Like 10. or 20. For several nights we tried sleeping with our heads at the foot of the bed (to be closer to the ceiling fan), but finally gave up on that last night and moved into the guest room.

John shares his home office with the guest room, which is great for the occasional over night guest, and that bed used to be ours for several years before we bought a new bedroom set when we moved to this house, in fact, that was the bed I had growing up, so I have spent the better part of a quarter of a century sleeping on that bed, so what's the problem?

The problem is that now I am used to a King size bed, and the guest room bed is a Double! (gasp! horror!) Let me clarify a little bit- I am used to sleeping in a King size bed ALL BY MYSELF, and now I am sharing a double. I realize it is a sad commentary that I get a better night's sleep when John is out of town (he's a cuddler- double gasp!) but the facts are the facts.

I'm checking the weather reports regularly- it is still going to be above 100 for the next few days, but it should be in the low nineties by the end of next week. Also, I figured out that if I open the windows between the hours of midnight and 7 am, the outdoor temperatures are cooler than the indoor ones. It's just surviving until midnight.

Journal Jar #4

Tell about your favorite aunt.

I can't say that I have just one favorite aunt. I have two. My mom and dad each have only one sister, and I would have a hard time choosing between the two of them. I love and respect them both, and can associate many positive childhood memories with each of them that it would be hard to pick.

That's my mom in the middle on her wedding day with my aunts serving as her bridesmaids.

I guess I would say that I am closer to my Aunt Janis. I still get to see her fairly regularly (if you call once a year regular). She's my mom's sister and only sibling. They fought a lot as kids (according to my mom) but are much closer as adults. When I was younger Janis and her family lived in Connecticut, so we never saw them. My very first memory of being on an airplane was when I was 11 years old and flying out there with my mom to visit for awhile. They moved to Park City when I was about 14 years old, and we enjoyed having them closer. She has four kids, and I love spending time with them whenever we are in Utah. One thing about my aunt Janis that has to be mentioned is what an awesome cook she is. Someday I hope to be half as good as her. Although it's been quite awhile since I've seen my Aunt Helen (I'm afraid it's been like 7 years), I've always looked up to her as well. Every year at Christmas time she would host a Christmas Eve party at her house. More than anything at Christmas time, I remember that the most, spending time with my cousins on my dad's side of the family each and every Christmas Eve. I was sorry when we all grew up and the tradition died. I asked her once why she did it, and she told me that she never knew her cousins growing up and she wanted to make sure her kids knew theirs. She wanted to give them (and all of us) that. She was like the glue that held that (my dad's ) family together. I'm feeling pretty guilty now that I didn't take the time to see her this summer. I'll make a point of doing better next year. I will. Unfortunately this is the most current picture I have of her. And yes, that little ankle biter is yours truly.

Journal Jar #3

I still can't find my camera. I guess I'll have to improvise. Luckily my journal jar entries lend themselves easily to that.

Oh Camera, Camera, wherefore art thou, oh Camera?

Tell about your childhood bicycle.

I loved my bike. I would ride it all summer long. Mostly just in the neighborhood, but sometimes we would ride to a gas station to get candy. (I realize it was a different world back then, and there was less traffic in the town where we live, but I get panic attacks thinking about letting my kids ride that far.)

I loved to ride without holding on. Sometimes I'd just close my eyes and feel the wind on my face and in my hair. Kind of like that scene at the end of City of Angels where Meg Ryan gets hit by the semi, only I'd panic after only second or two and open my eyes. I almost rear ended a parked car once, but I swerved in time.

Do they even make bikes like that any more? With big comfy banana seats, and handlebars perfect for carting some poor bike-less soul around. I must have like 5 years old in that picture. That bike looks all shiny and new, my parents must have just given it to me.

You know my dad was telling me a few years ago after my brothers were all grown up and out of the scouting program that he was fed up with kids these days. He said all the Scouts in his neighborhood were a bunch of lazy good for nothings, and half of them (teenagers) had never even ridden a bike before. SERIOUSLY. There was at least one fat kid who would produce a doctor's note every time they did something physical like backpacking trips but still expected to get his Eagle. I guess kids these days are too busy playing video games to go outside and play.

Which reminds me- John? are you reading this? This is my formal request to you to fix up the kids bikes. Soon. Please. Pretty Please. Fall is coming and I plan on kicking them out of the house. I'd also like for Zach to learn how to ride a bike this year. (He is 7 years old, so it's about time) Thanks.

Lost

I can't find my camera. I might have a couple things to blog about, but they involve my camera. So, I'll try to catch you up on all the exciting interesting rather mundane stuff that's been going on around here later. When my camera resurfaces from whatever black hole it fell in to.

Future plans

Zachary has had a dream for awhile now of moving to Germany and buying a Ferrari so he can drive it as fast as he wants. We had a conversation (one of many) about it the other day- it went something like this.

Z- I think I'll wait until Christopher grows up before I move to Germany, then he can come and live with me. I'll even let him borrow my Ferrari sometimes.

Me- Sounds like a good plan.

Z- Sometimes I'll even let him street race it when I'm not.

Me- I think street racing is probably against the law there. I don't think it's okay to street race anywhere. Germany just has some freeways where you can drive as fast as you want. But no racing, OK?

Z- Oh.

( A few moments pass with him deep in thought)

Z- Mom? is Germany very far away? Does it take a long time to get there? Does it cost lots of money?

Me- Yeah, it's pretty far. Like 12 hours on a plane. And yeah, it's pretty expensive.

Z- (quietly) Will you still come visit me?

Me- Of course! You couldn't keep me away.

( A few more contemplative moments)

Z- I know I can't drive my Ferrari as fast as I want in Utah, but maybe Christopher and I'll move there instead. How long does it take to get to Utah?

Me- In a car it's like 12 hours, but on a plane only 1 1/2.

(More contemplative moments)

Z- Maybe we can just live on the same street as you, then I could just ride my bike to your house whenever I want.

Me- Sounds good. I'd like that.

I did it!

They said it couldn't be done, but I did it.

I watched every single episode of The Office, (In less than a month) and now I am caught up to date! Ready for the season premiere tonight!!!

The last little bit was iffy- season 5 was only released a few days ago. With netflix I had to watch the first 2 DVD's (out of 5) quickly return them, then get the next 2. I finished with the fourth yesterday, I almost accepted defeat, was prepared to watch the beginning of season 6 tonight, and then get caught up when I finally get disk 5, but thankfully, they had those last few episodes on NBC.com!!!! Yay!

It feels so great to accomplish something so worthwhile. Ü

So excited. I'm abandoning my family and heading off to Maricopa to watch the season premieres of both Bones and The Office with some girlfriends. It's mostly a Bones party, but as long as we're there....

Journal Jar #2

Well, I had so much fun the last time, I thought I'd give it another go! Well, Fall of course is my favorite season. I think I've mentioned it before.

My favorite season used to be spring when all the pretty flowers come out. But that was following a nearly never-ending winter of depressing grays. Gray skies, dirty gray snow on everything, even the leaf-less trees looked dead and gray. And just when I never thought I'd see color again, those bulb flowers would start to bloom. In bright reds, and yellows and purples. I was determined to have a garden full of them, and my grandma helped me plant some and I watched them multiply, and then we moved to Arizona were tulips and daffodils don't grow.

Down here in opposite land, the land of eternal sunshine and summer, Fall is a welcome relief. You can feel it in the air. People start to get excited again. Neighbors come out to play. Creative juices start to flow again. I now wholeheartedly welcome the sight of a cloudy, gray sky. We're almost there. It might technically be fall in a couple days, but it will take a few more weeks to feel like it. It is starting to feel cooler in the early morning and evening. Yay! Fall! (hurry up please)I guess while we are on the subject of weather, and apparently I kinda already answered this question, yes it snowed where I grew up as a child. And yes, I played in the snow. There is a big difference between being a little kid in snow, and being in it as an adult. As an adult there were driveways and sidewalks to shovel, snow tires to buy, snow gear to purchase for everyone, windshields to scrape off, planning an extra 10 minutes or so into your morning to defrost your car, etc, etc, I could go on (and on).

But I loved to play in the snow. I LOVE skiing. I stink at skiing, really and truly stink, but I ♥ it. It's been almost 16 years since I've been. It pains me to think my kids have never had the opportunity to learn. And sledding is the best. I didn't always have the opportunity to do that kind of stuff, but we had plenty of snow at our house to play in. Next to the driveway there was always a huge pile (from the snow shoveled off the driveway) and we would hollow that out to make snow caves, or try to sled down it. Snow men, snow forts, snow angels, snow ball fights.

Of course, then I got older, and sitting in a hollowed out snow cave freezing my shorts off wasn't so much fun anymore. And then my mom handed me the shovel and I discovered that making the snow hill on the side of the driveway isn't nearly as fun as playing in it used to be, and then that stupid hill would be the last thing to melt, and you'd think that stupid, black and gray, crusty, nasty bit of snow would never go away. And then we moved to Arizona, and felt practically giddy at the prospect of giving away our snow shovels and windshield ice scrapers.

Yes. My mom is a great cook. Taught me nearly everything I know. Yes, I like to cook- even started a food blog, which is kind of pathetic at the moment given that I am stuck in a rut and cook the same things over and over again. (And therefore have nothing new to blog about) I'm hoping that Fall and all that stuff I said about creative juices will inspire me to get creative in the cooking area. My favorite thing to cook? Well, caramels are my specialty, but I also really like to bake cookies. I have a couple of recipes that I'm pretty proud of.

Friends

Zach- "Mom, did you have Christopher so that I could always have a friend?"

Me- "Absolutely."

Journal Jar #1

I admit to being a slacker-blogger these days. I didn't even make my goal of 20 posts last month. (Only 16- which is still good in an every other day post kind of way). I just have writer's block these days. No ideas to write about. The kids are in school, my computer is still retarded, I am anxiously awaiting Disk 3 of Season Five of The Office From Netflix. (Maybe that's my problem- I once read somewhere that to be a good blogger you need to turn off the TV. Oh well, that's not going to happen any time soon- I am so excited for the new fall schedule to start up I can't stand it. This Thursday I get to watch new episodes of Bones and The Office. Oh Happy Day.)

But, fear not, I finally had an idea. Madison made a "Journal Jar" for a church activity the other day. She is supposed to pick out a piece of paper and then write about it when she is at a loss for something to say. "Fabulous idea!" I thought! I could borrow her journal jar and do that too, whenever I am at a loss for ideas.

With Christopher's help, I randomly picked from The Jar-What size am I? How much do I weigh? Seriously? A lady does not talk about such things! NEXT!!!A favorite place to go with my family when I was young? I can't remember going many places as a family. I'd have to say Iceberg. Huge "over the top" shakes in any flavor you could imagine. Our Christmas tree- I'll take any excuse to repost this picture- Look! flat abs!We usually got a taller, real tree. My mom was particular about the tree. She liked the branches spread far apart so the ornaments could hang freely. She was a master at maximizing the mini-string light usage on the tree. When I was younger the twinkle lights were red, but then she switched to white later on. Each branch was individually wrapped. Took her hours. Sometimes Days. I still love a "real tree" but both my mom and I now have pre-lit fake ones. So much easier. And cheaper in the long run. I need a new one though. I have a couple broken branches, and whole sections of lights I can't get to go on. I have to be pretty strategic about putting the thing together so all the retarded sections of the tree are in the back.

Here's a good one to end on. I think my favorite restaurant is The Tuscany. Pricey, but so delish. When we lived in Utah, it was our "Anniversary Place". We still try to make it there when we're in town.

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment! (Unless something more interesting comes up)

John's Famous

This picture ran in the Utah based newspaper The Deseret News a week ago. John got to attend the BYU game in Dallas Texas last Saturday. -At the brand spankin' new Dallas Cowboys stadium. They played (and won) against the University of Oklahoma. He's the guy standing up in the blue shirt with half his head cut off. Also pictured are John's sister and her family. (At least parts of them) most of their faces are cut off.

so sue me, I like books.

Just in case anyone reading this thinks I'm a total Twilight Freak, I thought I'd remind you that In general, I tend to get excited about book related places. And in some cases, the final resting spots for certain authors. Some day, after John and I are millionaires, I also plan on taking the Jane Austen tour of England.

Nature Calls

So I decided that the plan was to just stick around town and see what Seattle had to offer. See some fish throwing (even though I dislike fish), check out the space needle, do some window shopping... I even bought a book. Instead of a generic Washington State travel book, I bought a Seattle book. A Top Ten Seattle book. Basically a great reference for those like me who don't have a lot of time, but would like to hit the highlights. When the first Barnes and Noble was sold out, I even had them locate and reserve it and a different store and I spent my precious time to drive to a second book store to get this one specific book.

And then we got to the rental car place. And parked next to our Ford rental was none other than a Volvo.

I realize it is gray and not silver, but still, it was a sign. John understood that and turned around and went back into the rental office and traded in the Ford. I didn't even ask. You would be right in assuming my travel plans changed there and then and I would be headed off to the Olympic Peninsula the next day.

That night however, we took the awesome advice of a friend (from a comment on my last post) and went out to eat at Dilettante. They also serve dinner there, but their specialty is chocolate. Chocolate truffles, chocolate desserts, hot chocolate, even chocolate martini's. If ever I were tempted to drink, that would be the place. (Don't worry, I had the very non-alcoholic hot chocolate, even though they were offering free samples.)

So the next day, armed with my now useless Seattle guide book, a map, a GPS, and a Coke, I headed off on my own to see the sights. (Is it weird that I was leaving my husband, on his birthday, to go check out the home towns of Edward Cullen and Jacob Black?)

It was a heck of a drive. (3-4 hours each way) But very beautiful and scenic. I cranked the tunes and enjoyed just having nothing to do but drive. The weather was rainy and cloudy, but I think I would have been disappointed if it wasn't. I made a few stops to get out and take pictures, but never stopped for too long. (don't you just hate it when you take pictures of scenery, because you are so moved by the beauty of it all, and need to share it with someone, but when you get home, the pictures are disappointing to say the least?) I was tempted to get out and hike, but it was raining, and I wasn't sure how much time all this was going to take anyway. My plan was to get back by dinner time so that I could spend some time with John.I think my favorite part was the rain forest. Totally surreal. I think if I stayed there long enough I might start to be able to believe that vampires and werewolves could exist in a place like that. Of course, pictures I take could never do the beauty of it justice. Apparently I'm not the first person to take the pilgrimage to Forks. Starting in Port Angeles, I started to see signs of the books' popularity everywhere. Motels welcoming Twilight Fans, and even whole stores dedicated to Twilight. Ironically the presence of all that stuff detracted from the magic of it all, and I would sit in my car and silently mock those who were capitalizing on the books, and the ridiculousness of it all, and then I would remember that I have no room to talk, I drove 4 hours to get there. I was just as pathetic as the gas stations that sell "I was bitten in Forks" t-shirts.

Admittedly my favorite sign had to have been the "No Vampires Allowed- Treaty Line" on the way to La Push. That made me laugh. Sorry about the picture, I couldn't get a good shot of it. I'm not sure which beach I was at, but the views were amazing. The rocks jutting out of the sea were a sight to behold.

After a long day in the car, I finally made it back to the hotel in time for dinner. We went out with some of John's co-workers who also happened to be in town for this meeting John had to be at, ad they found out it was John's birthday and wanted to go out to celebrate with us. We got some more great advice from a former local (and chef) and had dinner at El Gaucho. From the outside, the place wasn't that impressive, but the inside was a different story. And the food was to die for. Everything was amazing. We all left totally happy and stuffed to the max.

I've decided that I'd love to take a whole family vacation up there some day. I think we could easily fill a week.