first mountain hike

In my opinion everyone should have an uncle Bill.

This is my kids' Bill.

slugs snails and puppy dog tails

considering my children's extreme love for bugs and sliming creatures,

I had Nyssa take this shot.

No tears the whole trip.

The ascent took a cool 2 hours and my kids hiked the whole way.

If you have ever hiked the mountain, you know that's a great feat for any 3 year old.

p.s. they didn't nap afterword either

this is my and the three

Thomas refused to participate in the photo on a bench.

He detests pictures.

Mr. Steel and Mommy....Yes he did nearly fall down the edge, but I caught him before he went into a full tumble. I hesitated to take him at first because of his uncanny ability to freak me out.

He lived..so did I...mostly because he was shackled to an adult the whole hike




We took a rest at the summit and consumed a very wholesome snack
Cheetos, Frito's, Doritos and a couple more 'etos' snacks







The drop was so steep I had them put their hands on the rock while I took pics.
Note Mr. Steel has taken the liberty to scale the mountain side

panoramic...need I say more

I love how the fog bank looks like an ocean itself

there you have it. The pictures are compliments of Nyssa. Thanks for that!

letgo my leggos

last year, lured in by a possible five minutes of quiet, I purchased two boxes of Lego's and one box of duplos. It ended up being a huge mess covering my floor with barley any play so I put them out of sight. Yesterday Thomas used his allowance to purchase a small box of Lego agents. Two little men and some action vehicles to build. Pleasantly, it was much easier to reassemble than the transformers were. I doubt we will have all the pieces for very long but I was happy to finally get my five minutes of happiness and quiet from the three other boxes. I pulled them out in order to help the kids leave Thomas' new toy alone. Its hard to play and imagine with twenty fingers dancing around your object 'not touching' it. Mr. steel is finally enjoying the duplos, its just the right size for his hands to manipulate..lets hope he does not manipulate any down the toilet.

jane austin

Chopsticks are by far the superior utensil when it comes to eating. Ask any person of strong Asian descent and they will tell you as much. In order to properly utilize them, they should accompany Chinese cuisine. My dish was general Tsao chicken and steamed rice. It can be rather spicy and you have to be in the mood for heartburn afterwords, I found it mild enough, but Greg coughed so much the guy running the place came and brought him a water. He had only been chocking on a piece of rice, but I made sure to tease him thoroughly. The video store is close bye, so we drove over to grab a movie. We watch allot of sci-fi and action/ thriller. Its the common ground. We both enjoy it. Very rarely does Greg make me watch movies I abhor. It is an even rarer occurrence for me to rent a romantic comedy....but not last night! I saw it and couldn't pass it up, it was about a girl who finds a portal in her bathroom to Jane Austins pride and prejudice. She steps into the world and ends up altering the story. I cant say it was a five star flick, but it WAS amusing to a fellow p&p fan. (I'm talking the book and the BBC version) Greg kept getting up and making himself things. I finally excused him to bed and finished it with my mom. We both felt the hour and when we went to bed noticed the clock read very late! 11:45pm. *cough* Its nights like these where I coach myself on the importance of waking up happy. Generally it works. If I forget, I spend most of my day grumpy and wondering why. Snagging the first t-shirt on the bed I encountered I gave it a quick sniff and gaged, my.. Greg is smelling strongly these days...I grabbed another and coughed, same smell. I could spend all night searching for bed time clothes, I put some deodorant on the pits and called it clean. Although it ended up a 5 hour night, I cant complaine. I feel really good this am.

they throw fits? oh never!

The three have thankfully grown out of uncontrollable fit throwing, for the most part. We are talking hitting, thrashing, yelling fits. Oh they still cry and scream (my girl) when they have to do time on their beds, like its the green mile. I have a problem tho...once I sentence them, usually I get distracted with dishes or laundry and whammo! There they are walking around the house doing what they want. Here's the hitch, I wont realize it for quite a large amount of time, after which putting them back on their beds is a moot point. Then along comes amazon.com. Tomorrow I am ordering a piece of parenting equipment called a 'time out pad' which is pressure sensitive. When one offenders bum exits from the pad an alarm sounds until that bum replaces itself. Sweet just what I need. Don't you just love gimmicks that could possibly make life run more smoothly?

bathrooms and other familiaritys

There happens to be a cinema nearby of which has been part of my life for quite some time. It sits along the highway across from a strip mall. The large tower entrance has been a check point on my mental map since before I could drive. Not much about it has been altered. Oh sure they use to be owned locally and now are part of a conglomerate. Only a few things changed since then, like now they take visa and show more titles. The bathrooms underwent renovations in the past few years, the funny thing is they didn't rip out the three original stalls, the new owners simply opened the room up and added more. The old stalls are a dingy brown, the toilets are household so no worries weather you will be sucked down into a vortex upon flushing. On the floor is two kinds of tiling one new and whale blue to blend with the new stalls and the old dingy white to match the other. It so happens, the stall I use, is the one I have been using since I was 13. The bathroom at Fred Meyers are similar. The store has changed many times but the bathrooms are the same. When you finally grow up enough to have a past, weird things like bathrooms bring it back. I'm certain if I come across an outhouse with a hole and no seat, it would take me to Africa and their squatty pottys. The point? Ah yes the point. Its fun to look at a behavior and figure out when it started. To step outside yourself and find the motivator. Perhaps its time to change it up a bit. Drive to the other side of the store and park. Go to a museum instead of the zoo. Live life to its fullest...even if it means changing stalls in the bathroom.

bug shots

writing asignment..give them an impossible task

She scurried up the cable knit and over the hill size wrinkles in the sweater in order to see where she was. The ride had been unnerving, her tiny licorice strands of hair stood on end with static electricity. She was too busy surveying the surrounding wasteland to notice.
"Should have listened to the squirrel, said he would store my house in his stash"
"shure shure, never would have gotten into this mess"
The surroundings were so foreign, like another world, that she stood very still trying to take it all in for quite some time. She snapped after several minutes and ran back down into the pocket where her home and possessions were residing. The little hands grasped and pulled at the acorn to no avail. A loud and obnoxious squeaking noise accompanied her efforts.
"haloo down there!" chirped a little chickadee. "Whats all that racket about?"
Annoyed by the interruption she poked her fuzzy head out and glared. The poor little bird was definatly not expecting to see such a sight and instantly flew from his perch on the railing. The little imp realized too late that she could have used the help.


to see kristens version click here

blogged it!

A conversation I recently had went like this...

I love this movie because they depict the characters so well. See how greasy and unwashed they are, its perfectly fitting for the era.

why do girls want to live in this time period anyway?

Oh I would like to live in it for a day, wear the dresses and then be done.

(corset gagging coughing noises) yeah can you imagine why they couldn't run for very long. You would be better off dressing up for a ball in modern day than living back then.

My girlfriend wants to live back then

Not me! plus I think my back achene would be much worse if I only bathed once a month......

the conversation went on but my mind dawdled around the subject a bit more. Why do girls want to be trapped in skirts, restricted by corsets and inhibited by social standard..(like riding your horse side saddle) Why? I pondered. I believe a goodly part of my own wishfullness for a past period is my emotional connection to well tailored gowns which celebrate everything feminine. No I don't wear many dresses and my closet is void of any but my opera dress and a sun dress. When I wear them I feel a bit too fancy for me, Never the less its the romance of the thing. Like babies, weddings and easy lives, Its fun to think of and ponder, but so different in real life. Reality sheds the light into the cracks of dreams and renders the flaws visible. Quite possibly this is why I favor fiction so much, it grasps hold of my curiosity and fancy leaving fact far behind. I like living in reality more than anything, without its hardships and trials who would never accomplish true living, but enough of my livelihood is dedicated to fact in the day and I gladly give it up for a few hours every now and then buried in the pages of a book.

Terminator review

I went and watched the terminator with Greg a couple of days ago. The movie was well delivered. Its action sequences were fantastic and the cgi was above par. The plot was a point 'a' to point 'b' (destroy giant evil computer which is taking over the world) The cgi was so good they dared bring old Arney back to the movies...by pasting his head onto a body builders torso. Granted you shouldn't see this movie if you are not a big fan of 'all action little plot' or if you find a need for large amounts of boring dialog circling the same subject over and over. But if you were a previous fan of the terminator, back in the days of animatronics, you will probably enjoy this early summer movie as I did.

just life

My youngest is always on the go. He rarely watches an entire movie and is constantly jumping from one thing to the next. He stopped 'resting' around two years old. Napping for me is definitely OUT too unless other adults are present to supervise him. It gets a bit daunting at times and I find it hard to concentrate on anything but him. "but how do you keep blogging so much?" you might ask. Simple, I have a baby dell. One of those new little notebooks. Yeah I have bragged about it before...lets call this plug a follow up to a previous post.
The big hitch is I can blog, but writing is a struggle. Think about it now, picture one writer sitting in the middle of a gladiator match trying to write about the fragrant scent of summer flowers. Just when he thinks he has the perfect idea and begins to write it down Spartacus stabs Ben Hur who starts screaming ...now take the giant Colosseum and cheering crowd away...and some of the gushing blood..Voila! that's what its like to write with three kids awake. My original goal was take a year write a book. Seems simple enough but not realistic or probable. sad.
I'm settling with blogging more.

howdy rowdy

Its no secret my three are....active, sometimes overactive, and occasionally hyperactive. Every Sunday they have a children's lesson before the church sermon. My kids do tend to answer all the questions posed to the crowd. Its my fault. I have a personal pet peeve against children who give you a blank stare when you ask them a question. I don't allow my children to ignore queries. Even a dumb answer is better than no answer. Today brought a different response. The youngest wild thing requested the nursery, the two older stayed upstairs and ran forward as soon as children's corner was announced. The both were reassured to have good behavior and this Sunday I stayed in my seat thinking they were old enough to control themselves with out a mommy eye fixed to the back of their heads. My friend Abby commented on the wrestling match they held out of sight. I brought each child close to me and informed them wrestling was not on my good behavior list and next time mommy would accompany them up front. The urge to drop the subject was tempting but I knew they needed to understand why it was wrong. They both apologized to the teacher on my request. It transported me back to my childhood when my own loving mother told me I needed to apologize to the teenager of whom I kicked their rear and ran away from. I begged her to let me off, it was the person egging me on who was really to blame..nope she didn't buy it. I was mortified! humiliated! and ashamed! I chose to kick, it was my choice. I was the one who needed to make it right. Sobbing I went and said my sorrys. To my surprise they just laughed and said it was okay. My older two felt the same today. I could see it in their horrified glances. Is she serious? They choked out an apology worthy of any grand jury trial then received hugs. It was hard to be a good mom today, I would have much rather given them a sucker and told them to forget it, but the lesson would have been lost and another wrestling match would have ensued. Sigh.

a goal

Goals are motivating. Without goals many find themselves struggling to complete the task at hand without giving up or failing.
Working out and physical activity is enjoyable for me but I have found there is no desire to push any harder if its just to maintain. I felt myself wavering this spring and asking the same question of myself, which was "why the heck do I want to be skinny anyway? Whats the point! I'm working out into oblivion!!" Fortunately for me I have my work out buddy back and we are working toward looking great for our trip to Utah in September. I picked up another motivator called 'marathon' and evening jogs are becoming pleasantly enjoyable. Last night I grabbed Greg and took him around the block. We talked over future plans all of which are tentative.

After a year of sitting on out house we will (hopefully) sell and begin the process of building. We jogged/walked and talked about what the house will look like and other details. Even if things don't work out exactly according to plan, it is comforting to work all the angles and hey after nearly 8 years of marriage whats left to talk about?! HA.

sunny

several times I have had a conversation with a friend about nasturtiums and their ability to grow rapidly. A 'not quite' noxious weed. Unfortunately for me It has to be the most difficult thing in my gardening experience to grow! Last year I planted them and when it rained the seeds washed off the hillside. Three or four sprouted and then were stepped on until their demise. This year I decided to start them in little planters and transplant them after the fragile stage.....too bad my husband thought they were weeds and dug them up along with the grass I had been trying to remove. I didn't have the heart to tell him, its nice to have unsolicited help in the garden. I rescued one or two but have put that flower growing hope off till next year. Its so nice outside, I have nothing motivating me to blog! Great weather inspires lazy naps outside listening to the neighborhood hum with lawnmowers.

this weeks writing assignment

The white farmhouse sat in clear view from Kitty’s thinking spot by the oak. Her tiny legs grabbed at the ground as her feather light body cut through the breeze toward the permeating smell of freshly baked heaven. An envious thought caught hold of kitty when she skidded to a stop outside the 3 ft picket gate, she wished to leap over it as her older brothers did. While she strained to grasp the latch her nose gave a impish disgruntled snuff which startled freckles, the family dog. He had been sleeping against the gate and letting the sun soak into his aged joints. The latch finally gave way and Kitty impatiently bumped the gate against him several times until he drug his tired limbs out of the way.
Flinging the gate wide, she bound up the steps. Her shoes and sweater flew from her body airily and landed in a scattered mess across the porch as if they carried all the exhaustion of the run. A buzzing noise hung in the air after the screen door finished hammering.Inside the pocket of a pink sweater rested one small acorn, a beetle and what looked to be pocket lint. The latter you should know was not lint at all but miniature garments spun from spiders silk and the beetle was, upon inspection, a very delicate sort of person. She was not a fairy, goblin, or borrower. She was not any sort of mythical creature of shortened stature, I truly have never known much of her origin so I will refer to her politly as pocket. If you had been standing nearby the buzzing sound heard would have manifested itself into words....
“ we seem to have a problem”
“yes yes, a problem to solve!”
“ this is what we got into for wishing the beastie gone!”
“Indeed!!”

pond safari

Grandpa has been promising to take the kids on a ride since last year. We have gone in the golf cart (safari rig) several times but have not experienced a true grandpa adventure.We set off as soon as the sun had warmed the air to thin blood friendly temperatures. Grandpa hitched the trailer up and placed a dog bed inside for padding. We plunged through the muck and reached the pond without getting stuck once. The goldfish were plentiful! it made me wish for a net. 7 years ago husband Greg and Matt (friend) had a goldfish catching competition. At the time the large ones were the size of trout, but much slower. I cant remember who won, whatever the case the fish population dwindled a bit. The pond was full of them today. medium size. After running through puddles we loaded the kids up and rode out to inspiration point. Thomas decided to sit in the cart and pick through the cat tail he absconded with until it filled the air with fluffy particles. hope you enjoyed the pics.

destination

We hopped into the car at 5:45 am and marathoned our way up to camp! It took a total of 6 hours 10 minutes, the 10 minutes were from a gas/potty/snack stop we made. We listened to one of the new peter pan books on CD...Its amazing how a classic book can turn politically correct in just a short period of time. Certain words were changed from red Indians to natives....names like tiger Lilly and big chief morphed into little scallop and fighting prawn. No one died, not even one pirate. The mermaids were nice and magically learned to speak. In all it was a nice 21 century story,...which was PC. In order to purge my children's souls we listened to Mary Poppins afterwords. Nothing like a mean British nanny to liven things up. The kids played with cousins non stop upon arrival and bed time called my name as well as theirs. I woke to see grandma peeking in on me to see what happened, I think they were expecting me to pop down stairs and hang out with them. Yawn. Perhaps tonight. Fun fun fun! we are here till Wednesday. more blogs to follow.

going somwhere

tomarrow I am going somewhere...dont you wish you knew where I was going!!!!HA but you dont!!! No one who reads this post will know untill I get there! tra la la!

garden as of today

the garden is in the beginning stages of green. After a friends urging I snapped a before picture so that when it is in full swing I can catch the difference.

The contents are...

sugar snap peas, raspberries, thyme, pineapple sage, purple sage, parsley, lavender, giant sunflowers, medium sunflower, jasmine, strawberries, tomatoes, blueberries, carrots, yellow zucchini, cucumbers, Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, turnips, rosemary, walla walla sweet onions, chives, and mint. whew! when eds wife gets on her garden I have some starts for her! gardening is so fun...

writing assignment, middle

"what do you suppose it wants?"
" I don't know what it wants."
" It is so large perhaps we shouldn't disturb it."
" We cant have it here forever, it will rot and ruin our view."
" Quite right, Quite right."
Kitty lay still waiting for whatever they were to come closer. She was straining as it was, to hear what they were saying. All grew quiet and Kitty heard nothing for quite some time. Fairy soon Kitty forget why she was laying so still. Her green eyes peeked open to find nothing out of the usual. Her surroundings were the same as before, the oak tree swayed slightly and the hot sun had made its journey halfway through the sky. Kitty sat up and stretched her small arms while breathing in. A hint of hot apple crisp rode the breeze calling her to come into the house. Kitty ran from her tree spot, but not before grasping the acorn and shoving it into the pocket of her pink knit sweater.


this next weeks writing assignment is to give your character a problem...

she's like..she's like like like

Children have the uncanny ability to mimic. When my girl pretends to be a mommy the word like is present in nearly every sentence, in fact its practically in between every other word. When she was learning to talk silly phrases would pop out of her mouth which made me think, "where is she getting it?" inevitably I would later say the same thing. Some days I notice they are yelling at each other more than usual. Part of it would have to be me being tired of helping resolve things before fists fly, the other half is sometimes hollering from the couch instead of getting up, scolding them with an emotional motivator.
Good parenting is hard work! My son has told me for the last few days he hates me while I am walking him to his bed for a time out. I know he doesn't mean it its just his way of saying 'this stinks.' Afterwords when he gets his hugs and kisses he looks into my eyes and tells me he loves me and how sorry he was.
I blog about my parenting because It keeps me accountable. When I tell people how I fail it motivates me to do better. Motherhood doesn't come with a manual or a warranty, but it does have a great rewards program and who can complain about all the extra hugs not to mention the snotty kisses during cold season.

writing assignment

An acorn lay at the bottom of the weather beaten oak tree. It was not out of the ordinary in shape or size and looked fairly common snugged against the tree's bulging roots. Any person large or small could easily pass by without desiring to reach down and pluck it from the surrounding debris. That is what Kitty almost did. It was coincidence that she should see a tiny thread of smoke rising out of the hardened stem and curiosity which led her to lay flattened to the ground for several minutes. Nothing happened, to her disappointment, but the day was warm and the summer grass so inviting she found herself drawn to the unconscious state brought on when a person feels secure. She awoke after some time but refused to open her eyes. The gentile tickling of the grass on her cheek and the smell of earth in her nostrils was something she didn't want to be rid of just yet. She heard a mischievous wind hit the very top of the tree teasing its branches, daring them to sway. Kitty began to feel sleep grasp her once more but shook it from her consciousness when she heard a very small voice say....

aha! I am on time this week!!!!
if you want to see Kristen's post click HERE

sleepless nights

My honey worked through college. He worked two part time jobs and went to school full time. It was a challenging period of our life together. Not only was he uninvolved because he was gone, when he did come home after several days absence he slept. There was a previous season when I would throw a fit if Greg was gone for one night. "its not fair, I cant sleep without you! the house is so empty,...no the dog doesn't help" It didn't even hold a candle to what I was to face for four long years. One of my single mom friends suggested mounds of pillows so the bed didn't feel as empty. It helped if I tucked them in. My oldest would have slumber party's when he was gone. Given those facts, it makes perfect sense she likes old movie musicals and sings show tunes from time to time. My dad told me once God allows life to happen to you so you can be ready for more of life, coming along another in need when the time came (paraphrase of a longer life lessons talk) Spending occasional nights alone prepared me for constant nights and days parenting alone. Now when Greg is gone in Bolivia for 3 weeks, Its like an old hat I have kept in the closet for weddings and funerals. I pull it out and put it on. Its a little dated but once the dust is brushed away the hat is familiar and comfortable. I'm prepared for what will come because of what I have already lived though. Last night I reached for it again and popped in guys and dolls. The loneliness melted away, giving room for pleasant slumber...."Ive got a horse right here his name is Paul Reaver..."

operaaaaa!!

Rigoletto

The word opera literally means Italian and if you want to experience true opera, it must be sung in Italian.

The maestro was applauded as he walked into the orchestra pit, his talents proceeding him. On his shoulders lays half the responsibility for creating a the scenario which holds the audience in rapt attention. The first act opens to Rigoletto the fool prancing about for the duke and entertaining with needling jests. An old man comes and wishes vengeance upon the duke for taking his daughter, ruining her for any other man, and shaming his household. He curses the duke and his fool. The duke thinks nothing of the curse but Rigoletto is struck to the core. It is all he can think about on his way home to his only living relative, his daughter. He has hidden her from the court and the duke in order to preserve her innocence.She is under strict guidelines to only attend church and lock the gate after returning home. Somehow the duke has seen her in the church and desires her. He follows her home and slips in to find Gilde and woo her with lies. He leaves as Rigoletto is returning to check one more time on Gildes safety. Rigoletto is stopped in the street by the courtiers who are there to abduct Gilde. they think she is his mistress not his daughter, and wish to seek vengeance on him for all his cruel and pointed jokes. They trick him and take her to the duke where she is ruined. He begs but no one listens. Finally Gilde appears and begs her father not to harm the evil duke because she loves him. The father shows him in his infidelity and sends her away so he can avenge her.. He pays a killer, but the daughter sacrifices herself for the dukes life and dies in his place. The old mans curse has come fully true. The opera concludes with Gildes body in the arms of her father Rigoletto who is screaming in anguish for now he too, like the old man, has nothing left.

I loved it. The high notes were bone chilling and the 3 1/2 hour production flew by quickly. Defiantly a must see tragedy.

you gotta be a die hard

Here are a few phrase meanings for your intellectual digestion...

Die Hard- A person who holds stubbornly to a minority view, in defiance of the circumstances.
Trekkie-a person obsessed with a television show created in the 60's to the point where all the extra space in their head has been used up with the storage of useless knowledge about these things.

With that said, I went to the new star trek movie last night. I cant say I was thrilled beyond life itself. A pre-quill is a dangerous thing. Directors must like them because they have a room for play in the plot, this being the year of the pre-quill, but might find themselves in a pinch when it comes to the die hard fans who never pictured Lt. Ohurah making out with Spock. I admit the look-alikes were fun to see, but enduring the delivery of their 'coin phrase' at every opportunity was lame. The action was fun and the CGI amazing but it was lacking. The production cost was 120 million to make, California helps increase national debt one box office flop at a time. Take some advice, unless you are a die hard Trekkie, save your $10 for a worthwhile film. Wait for Star Trek to hit DVD.

The following has nothing to do with the movie review.

Last night at the movie my husband and I sat upper middle. The film started and we were well into the plot when a family came in the row in front. I don't mind a little disturbance, but this was beyond 'little'. Grandpa squeezes through to his seat followed by whiny 5 year old and loudly hushing mother. Apparently little girl wanted to go first in the isle and grandpa didn't let her. What did mommy do? She told grandma how rude grandpa had been by not letting girl walk first....then she suggested the unbelievable.
"do you want grandpa to apologize to you?" she questioned the brat. My stomach turned. I had watched the whole thing. Grandpa had done nothing but walk his old bones to the seat by his wife. No shoving, no yelling. Kid on the other hand moaned and whined. Its my homeschooling back round and my very polite mother who taught me to respect the people who are old. Yeah I was aghast. They left for popcorn and I continued watching the movie until the return of princess girl. Mother sat in front of me and had to keep talking to the child and trying to hush her while she did things obviously for attention.We moved after spying a couple of seats in the section behind. The rest of the section (3 more people) moved a few minutes later. Sad. Why would anyone bring a 5 year old to movies like wolverine and star trek anyway? My loving husband reminded me that we are different than most parents and they are an average American family...my conclusion? the average American family needs my prayers and support, not my passing movie going judgments.

photo-op stop

Here is Mr. steel as himself...a puppy

the smile previous to noticing I was shooting the picture, it went down hill from here

Above: Thomas smiling with his dinosaur teeth

Visualize this little face looking up at you in the shower and saying," mommy, you look disgusting without your clothes on. Your tummy is so big it looks like you are going to have a baby."

before you pity me too much remember I am not sensitive about such things and consider it exceptionally hilarious.I had a hard time stifling the laughter. The face she is making in the above photo is dead on what it looked like that day. Tact comes later....lets hope!

Due to a cavity in between her front teeth, she chooses not to smile with them. I asked her to this time and she said, okay just this once.

Its a good thing I haven't payed Mrs. lamping millions of dollars to make my kids look good. It would work with my girl.... the boys however are a different story. If mommy can only accomplish having them smile at her like they are wild beasties, I can imagine what would happen if I banked on their inability to cooperate during an actual photo shoot. (other than Walmart) When the three were younger I could take them out in the stroller and each would wait his turn..not anymore!

tho I scoff..

A lady at the writers conference I was at tried to pitch a book entirely focused on time management. I scoffed and looked at her haughtily. Who would ever read a book on that. Seriously if you don't have enough time to shower when will you find the time to read another self help book...and then I got home. I desperately WANT to write. Truly, I think it would be fantastic. This morning 5am sounded like I could seek the quiet which comes from early morning. Nope.....didn't find that either. I forgot peaceful mornings existed only when I lived in OP. I wormed my way out of bed this am being ever so careful not to wake anyone up and snuck to the couch for a devo time. My computer was back in the room so I tiptoed in and grabbed it in order to write. As usual everyone was flying about the place leaving for work and my youngest had emerged from his blanket cocoon. "perhaps tomorrow", either that or I need to get up at 4:30 am, this truly being the only time everyone else is asleep....and in my opinion, that is not a good option

Yet another rainy day

I woke to find the weather to be not in my favor. A local saying goes like this....

April showers bring more showers all through may

This is when you go to Fred Meyers for recreation sake, utilizing any plausible excuse. Mine was,"oh darn we are low on milk." I ran in with my armload of kids and drove the cart around the store trying NOT to buy anything but enjoying a change in scenery. This works well as long as you don't linger in the furniture section long enough to notice the employees doing laps and staring at you. I snagged a few other essentials like soap and eggs before heading to pay. For some reason (and I don't think its the recession) 12 out of 3 check stands remain closed and the latter are jam packed with people who don't want to scan their own items. This weekends premier of star trek reminded me of a conversation in a coffee shop I eavesdropped recently.

" I cant believe people watch those science fiction movies!"

" Yes they are so fake!"

" Don't those people do any research? As if you could TRULY accomplish that!"

" yeah I saw one where....bla bla bla"

My husband is a classic sci fi buff. The man owns more DVDs on space travel than my girl movies combined. Considering I love him, I have watched a large amount and though I could chalk some up to pure torture the majority have amazing insight into the future. Things purely fiction are reality now. wrist televisions? check. 3 d printing? check. cloning? yup. Nano tech? scary yeah. What does this have to do with check stands at Fred Meyer? One word. Assimilation. You want to use the isle with a real clerk,...but the lines are SO long. The only other option is automated. I'm in my 20's, its not hard to learn a new thing. I have been assimilated. My mother on the other hand thinks little of it, but in the end went there because the line was just to long. You think your clever, you think by switching lines your beating the system....sadly along with the majority of people it seems you have been assimilated.

recent pics

Notice!!

We have a parasite blog crawler. He found me through a mutual friend and is posting on all my followers sights in order to obtain hits on his blog. For this inconveniance I apologize. I truly am sorry if your personal blogs have been viewed and infiltrated by an unknown person. If you wish to have me remove your blogs from my blog role you know how to contact me :) have a nice night.

How often does you childhood resurface its self? What is the first thing you think of when the rain starts to pour out of the sky like a movie set in California. Long days inside with a book perhaps? Tea? Those with multiple preschool age children know a different feeling. Dread. An early morning stretch accompanied with a glance out the window has left many a mom muttering sarcastic comments to themselves in the anticipation of a day full of crying, fighting and crankiness. Why settle? Yesterday the spring wind was howling and the rain was pouring down in buckets so we decided to go for a puddle stomp. I called a friend she wasn't convinced, but by the time we passed by her house she decided to join us. Years ago when I counseled at a Bible camp they told me a bit of information which had proved itself over and over. How you react will dictate how they respond. At camp that meant if I loathe night games and want to go to bed, they too will find less enjoyment.The flip side is putting on your puddle boots and jumping in. The looks on the faces around you are priceless. When I took my kids out for the first time and went at it, you could see they were calculating weather or not I had lost my mind, then snap they were there in the puddle with me laughing, jumping and running. Although the weather was miserable, we made the day fantastic. Small decisions can make big differences.

buisyness as usual

They had that look in their eyes this morning....we missed you mom, we missed you so much we arent going to sleep at night,...just in case you got the idea of doing it again! Never fails. The emotional preparation for theatrical children is common enough. I start by dragging my half live body to the french press in the morning, entirely disregarding the 4 minute brewing suggestion and letting it sit for a full bodied 10 minutes. Then and only then am I prepared to approach the ordeal of breakfast. it could be most accurately described for those non-mom readers as comparable to line cooking without the extra help and no monetary gain. Your costumers at times may call your version of a lightly browned pancakes burnt or describe your oatmeal as disgusting and gooey. Granted if you told your costumer they had to eat it anyway, your restaurant might fail or perhaps would be labeled the 'soup Nazi' of breakfast cooking. After breakfast I hike my mom pants on (metaphorically speaking) and take on school for my kindergartner while son #1 runs to the room screaming "I want alone time" to his brother who is banging the door down with a mop. Many hours worth of jump off the couch and fix interruptions I realize...oh ya, they miss me. I calmly ask my youngest to not dump out all the flour onto the floor which he replies " it walked off the counter mama" and I take them all to their room. Nope no trouble, just time to play and say I missed you back. Kids translate things differently than adults do. We miss someone and we say, oh I missed you lets get together, kids usually throw all their toys into the living room and tease each other until everyone is in tears, well mine do at least. I am just glad after 6 years of mothering I'm finally catching on!

P's and Q's

Ever try to burst into a conversation dramatically in which you had no right to inturupt.Ahem. I will admit I am a regular offender on the part of conversation. Its a curse to talk as well as a blessing. I remember determining myself to break away from being the shy quiet kid. I would practice questions in my head at least 20 times before getting the acutal words to form in my mouth. Volume was another problem. imagine this....ahem....thats...a nice...shirt..
What did you say? THATS A NICE SHIRT. Oh well you dont have to speak so loudly. These days Its back to working on being a great listener again. Some think it easy, but they forget being a great listener involves keeping others secreats. Or mentally straining to stay with the conversation when your mind is wandering. Its on my mommy to do list close to the top. One of the greatest things about being a christian is the fact I can have prayer/conversation with God whenever I like, an open invitation. Unfortunatly, alot of times I do all the talking and not as much listening. Its somthing to think about..How much listening are you doing? can you do better? I know I can. Yawn..Its getting late, I have to turn in before it gets too early.

SWINE FLUE KILLS 1000s

got ya! nothing says look at my blog like a crazy title which isnt true! okay perhaps being around all this book pitching has gone entirly to my head, distorting my truthfullness...no no I am just a kidder at heart,..the swine flue killed millions of germs and supported the use of antibacterial handwhipes in public schools. Simular to several years ago when we had a tsunami over here which possibly killed millions...of sand fleas. :) have a great day

so tired

this conference has been amazing. Last nights sleep was not as amazing. Kristen's grandpa owns a cat that acts feral. Apparently it likes him and not anyone else. Both Kristen and I had a similar nightmare or something and found daemon cat running around ( a possible culprit of said nighttime unrest) I locked the cat in with the toilet and went to sleep. 4:45am I heard funny scratching noises and remembered the cat...On opening the door it began to hiss and whirrrr at me until I encouraged it to take up residance in a cupboard, while I bathed. Tonight we are moving our glorified white trash version of the sleep number bed..ahem air mattress with a felted top, to the front room. Theoretically free of any live or dead nighttime creatures. I have slept with the latter, but that is another story.

day two

the conference went well. Listening to authors shamelessly pitch their projects to anyone who resembles and agent. the people watching has been amazing. My favorite pitch was a man who wrote a book on outer beauty..and ahem the inner beauty along with that. Perhaps a book involving physical beauty would be better received if a woman was the one standing up and spearheading its presentation. Nothing says "you fat cows can be beautiful...and pray more"(note the spiritual innuendo) like a man in his 40's.
One woman pitched a book which was purely in her mind. You could see the publisher click off his interested side and turn on his Jesus loves you face. I'm glad we are at a Christian conference, it cuts down on the high and mighty attitude, turning the true focus on the high and mighty. My true issue here is being at a point to devote myself and my efforts into one place. Am I willing to sacrifice time to writing? Time is so precious in this stage of the game. I have just a few fleeting moments in the day to absorb and give love to my children. Then the banjo,...then the gardening....Its no wounder my sister and I are the minority age group here. Will I do this again? Yes defiantly. Whatever it is I bring from this weekend I hope it includes lasting good memories for my sister and I.

im here now what?

Ah arrival at the conferance! Now what exactally to do? I stopped at Wally world before and killed some time just in case I would be early. The silence was excruciating. Gregs car has absolutly no radio etc. and I found myself trying anything to keep my mind occupied. I ended up listening to the turbo suck air on and off while perusing unintellagent thought streams from my ever working mind. I tried singing but without any backups...well i basically kicked myself off of american idol. thank God for big mega huge churches and their unsecured wifi! blog ya later!