A couple of months ago I was away from my family for 7 days. SEVEN DAYS! I haven’t been away from them for that long before – heck, I haven’t been away from home without my husband for more than a weekend or so since we’ve been together. The first couple of days were good, but then I started getting pretty homesick after that. I missed my family. But Brett did a fantastic job of taking care of the kids, and I even walked into a clean house on Sunday evening. Turns out, I’m the one who makes all the messes in the house. Huh. Who would have thought it?
I think one good thing about the trip is that I’ve started to reevaluate my priorities, especially this whole online-life I’ve got going on. How important is it really to me? The kids & I stayed home the Monday after I got home, and I made a conscious decision to leave my computer turned off & my phone put away except for phone calls. I think that way too often I’m only halfway tuned in to what’s going on around me. While I love keeping up with everyone’s blogs & tweets, I’m beginning to wonder what I’m missing with my head stuck in the computer all of the time. I have so little time with my kids & husband, perhaps I need to do a better job of being present where I am, rather than being halfway here & halfway…somewhere else.
So that’s where I’ve been recently – with my family.
Posted in A Little Something..., Family |
…you know, with Very Important Stuff.
Can’t you tell?
Posted in A Little Something..., Family, Mazzy |
…and we’re enjoying every minute!
Posted in A Little Something... |
One of the unexpected benefits I’ve noticed after adopting Lola is the extra quiet time I’m getting.
I certainly didn’t anticipate that adding another warm body to our already chaotic household could possibly result in more alone time for me. The thing is, she’s pretty attached to me. Plus, Brett assumes no responsibility for her, which means I’m the one taking her outside to do her business. And when she does her business, she’s very slow to decide just when and where the perfect spot will appear. But if I go inside, she either just stands on the porch waiting at the door OR she wiggles through the fence & goes around to the garage door, hoping I’ll let her in there.
So I just sit out here in my plastic Adirondack chair under the trees, picking out the constellations with the help of my Google Sky Map, the breeze on my neck, letting her take her time while I take mine.
Posted in A Little Something... |
I have a great idea for anyone needing a Mother’s Day gift for someone special. (Yes, this includes yourself!) How about a hand-stamped necklace?
A dear friend of mine who blogs over at Leaving My Mark, is the most creative person I know. We were friends when I lived in Utah back in the early 90′s, and I still have some really cool necklaces she made for me back then, not to mention a t-shirt, photographs, poetry and assorted other things. In fact, I moved into my first apartment with her, which was in the basement of Fern & Dale’s house & had two small bedrooms and a weird shower. Who were Fern & Dale, you ask? Well, a late-middle-aged couple who quickly wished they hadn’t let us two move into their basement. But I digress…
Kelly has a super-awesome Etsy shop where she sells some of her creations, including these beautiful hand-stamped necklaces. Can you guess who she made this one for?
Stacked Silver and Copper Personalized Necklace
I love, love, love this necklace, which was a Christmas gift to me last year. I have been looking for some kind of “I’m a Mom” jewelry for a while, but never really found anything that was quite me. This necklace is perfect. It’s subtle, but special. I wear it every day, rubbing my fingers over the letters of my kids’ names over & over.
I know you (or your mom, grandma, favorite caregiver) would love one, too. Or, you might prefer one of her other beautiful creations, so be sure to check out her shop. Or, you know, email the link to your husband.
Ed. note: I was not compensated for or even asked to write this post; I just really love Kelly’s creations & want to share them with you.
Posted in A Little Something..., My Turn! |
Last weekend was busy. In addition to adopting Lola, I ran my second 5K race, America’s Run, on Sunday morning. I was pretty nervous because after the Cowtown in February, my running has gotten pretty infrequent. Between my trip to Portland and everyday life hassles, I just haven’t really been making the time to exercise on a regular basis. So I went into the race fully expecting to have to walk part of the 5K.
But guess what? I didn’t! Not only that, I beat my previous time by nearly 2 minutes, meaning I have a new 5K personal record of 39:06. Just think what my time would have been if we hadn’t had to stop to pee halfway through? I’ll try to avoid that in the future.
The cool thing about this race, held at the new Death Star Jerry World Cowboy’s Stadium, is that the finish line was on the field, and spectators got to see us on the gigantic HD screens hanging above the field. Overall it wasn’t as exciting as the Cowtown race, but it was fun & now I can say that I’ve run on the field where America’s team plays.
Running through the tunnel to the field at the Cowboy's Stadium
Crossing the finish line in high definition!
Posted in A Little Something..., My Turn!, Transition Talk |
Meet Lola:
I promise to post a better picture soon.
She’s our new addition to the family. I’ve been looking around at pet rescues online, via Petfinder, for the perfect indoor dog. I’m not really sure why I got the urge to add to the chaos in our home. Maybe it’s a replacement for that third baby I’ll never have. That’s what Brett thinks. But I’ve always had animals around, and while we have 2 dogs & a cat already…it’s just not the same when they’re outside all the time. Sure, we let them in from time to time, but as soon as they clean up any crumbs under the table, they’re ready to go back outside.
A visit to Petsmart on Saturday to look at a Dachshund resulted in our adoption of little Lola on Sunday. We had to pass a home inspection before they’d let us take her. She’s such a little sweetie. We’re guessing that she’s part King Charles Spaniel, part poodle, and somewhere around 3 years old. She’s had a bit of a rough time, having come from a west Texas shelter to the rescue group and then being adopted out, only to be returned two days later due to the man being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease the day after they brought her home.
Last night I put a blanket on my bed for her and she burrowed completely under it, sleeping on my feet all night until Brett got up this morning. She hasn’t had any accidents in the house, and loves going outside with us. Our two dogs don’t mind her a bit, and the kids love her. You should hear Jack trying to say “Lola”. It’s so cute.
She won over Brett in a flash. He was really opposed to adding another mouth to feed (understandably) but I managed to convince him that it would really be a source of happiness for me to have a pet around the house. She hadn’t been home more than an hour or two and he was kissing her and insisting on taking her outside himself. I knew that would happen. I had a checklist in mind when I started looking: small, laid back, not a puppy, good with kids. She fit the bill to a T – I think she’s going to fit in just fine.
Posted in Family, Home |
Last week I attended a library conference in Portland, Oregon. I’d never visited Portland before, so I was really looking forward to it. From what I’d heard, it seemed like a place I’d fall in love with. I had a good time, but I didn’t really fall in love with Portland. I was downtown for the majority of my 7 days there – with the exception of Saturday.
Saturday morning, a co-worker & I hopped on the MAX & rode out to Washington Park, where we hoofed it on over to the Hoyt Arboretum. Washington Park is a huge park right inside Portland, and the arboretum didn’t disappoint. We didn’t have time to tour the whole thing, but we knew we wanted to see the sequoia grove. I still need to get to northern California to see the old-growth trees, but I was happy to get to see the stunning examples contained there. We were lamenting the fact that we didn’t have more time, but my friend was flying out that afternoon, so we had to get back so she could get to the airport.
Lucky for me, my husband’s childhood best friend lives in Portland & was kind enough to take time out of his busy week to give me a tour of the Columbia River Gorge & Mount Hood. Also lucky for me, the weather on Saturday was sunny & beautiful, so it was a perfect day for sightseeing. Hood was gorgeous, and along the way I could see Mount St. Helens in the distance, which was also beautiful. We didn’t stop at Multnomah Falls because there was crazy traffic, but we did a tour of the Bonneville Dam & sturgeon hatchery. We stopped in Hood River for a slice of pizza (cool little town) & then continued on around Mount Hood.
After sightseeing, I was invited to dinner with my new friend’s fiancée’s family, which involved some beer, a lot of food and a lot of laughing. She has a large family (8 brothers & sisters in all) and it was great to be a small part of the somewhat-orderly chaos that a large family dinner inevitably brings. I was so thankful that they were so gracious as to include me, especially seeing as I had only met Brett’s friend once very briefly several years ago. They all got a kick out of that – they thought that Ryan & I knew each other, but none were really surprised that he would give up his whole Saturday to take a perfect stranger to see the local sights, so that tells you what a great guy he is. I had a great home-cooked meal, fabulous after an entire week of dining out for every meal. I only wish I’d left enough room for those chocolate cupcakes & bread pudding.
Things I learned in Portland:
- The magic is in the hole.
- Oregon makes a lot of really good beers.
- Not having to drive anywhere is fun.
- Portland has some really good food.
- Old bridges are cool.
Posted in A Little Something..., My Turn! |
Mazzy’s preschool recently moved her up to the 4-year old class, despite the fact that her November birthday is past the September 1st cutoff date to be in that class. It’s a good thing – her teachers recognized that she was way beyond what they were teaching in her old class & made the decision to go ahead and move her up.
As with any big change, the transition period has been…a bit challenging. Mazzy keeps complaining that she wants to move back to her old class because she misses her friends and teachers. She’s been super-cranky just about every. single. mother. effing. night. It’s been exhausting. Add to that the never-ending diarrhea that Jack has had along with the seventy-nine teeth that have decided to push themselves through his little gums all at once (probably contributing to the stream of shit that is continually flowing out of his ass) and you can just imagine the kind of week we’ve had.
Oh yeah, I’ve been very stressed at work, behind on all of my projects, big and small, because I’m spending half of my days in meetings and the other half banging my head against my desk. Aaand I’ve only lost .2 pounds this week and I’ve only run 3-4 times since running my 5K nearly 2 weeks ago.
I’m pretty sure I have PMS, what do you think?
Posted in A Little Something..., My Turn! |
Have you guys seen this phenomenon known by various names, including “Bull Balls” or “Bumper Nuts”? They’re these fake ball sacks that you hang from the trailer hitch of your truck. They’re very popular out where I live…you know, Backwoods, Texas…but I just don’t get it. I certainly don’t want my four-year-old daughter to ask me what they are.
Why on earth would you want to hang a FAKE SCROTUM from your vehicle? To tell everyone that you’re a total douchebag? Yeah, that must be it.
I maintain that the boys who talk about their junk/sex/etc. are the most are the ones who are getting it the least. Hanging a fake scrotum from your trailer hitch pretty much ensures that you aren’t getting it at all.
Posted in A Little Something... |
