Friday, May 29, 2015

Early Morning


I'm sitting at my favorite place in my little house on my little street...on a stool at my kitchen counter. All is quiet...my alarm goes off super early and I try to get as much work done as I can before the rest of the house wakes up.  The dog has been walked, the coffee is made, work emails have been answered and I sort of have a dinner plan in motion, but that might change depending on what I see at the market.

It's Friday, my friends.  And I need this Friday.

There's always talk about beginnings, but there is something to be said for endings too.  Sometimes things just need to conclude and there needs to be time to just settle into that.  This week has been hard.  It's the end of the school year and my team is tired...I'm doing the 'you can do it!' cheer for them but they are tired and weary and just so ready for summer.  

I get it.  I am, too.

Summer is coming but first...first we need this year to just end.


I'm questioning things right now.  Relationships I thought were solid; a management style I thought was going ok; that I'm wearing the right set of contact lenses. 

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So this week, I'm going to finish strong.  Work hard and do my best.  Try not to cry because why oh why do I feel like crying?  

Probably because I'm a girl.

The house is clean and about to become even more full.  Matteo will be arriving later today and staying here for the next 5 weeks, though he'll be working 12 hour days an hour away, so we won't see him all that much.  

Still, I like when they're all here. 

The pictures:

zucchini chocolate chocolate chip muffins, which lasted approx. 15 seconds
real life text messages
shoes that never make the shoe bin
discontinued amaretto creamer means I have to punt
the tree fell


Happy Friday!

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Tuesday, May 26, 2015

This Week So Far


Oh yeah, I love my pup.  How could anybody not love that face?

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Boys in sports means there is always, always, always someone who requires stitches or X-rays or something or other that requires a copay...usually towards the end of the month when the money tree is not blooming.  We've got it good though...a friend who is a pediatrician and neighbor who is a nurse.

They work for food and I'm more than happy to feed them.

This time around, no stitches needed thanks to those remarkable steri-strips.  I love this things.

I love that boy more...even with yet another sweet scar.

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That guy that I like so much and I have begun our season of long walks around our lake.  It's seriously easy to think about all the negatives of where we live...well, there's really only one and that's the cost of real estate here.

And then we walk around our lake and talk to all the people who are also walking around the lake and it's like a big wake up call.

I like it here.

We took our dog with us and we all survived.  He might be big and black but he is afraid of people, afraid of open spaces, afraid of wind, afraid of being outside.  He pulls and pulls to get back home and whoever is walking him ends up with one arm that is like 2 feet longer than when we started...but, he is doing better.  

Day by day.  Week by week. 


Our garden is so beautiful this season and I am so ready to sit and enjoy it.  I am in the last weeks of work and it is utter chaos...I'm tired and grumpy and so very, very thankful for boys who can drive and pick up Nick's pizza when I just don't feel like cooking.  It doesn't happen often...I love cooking and it is relaxing to me but today was beyond busy.

Tomorrow is a new day.

I've been day dreaming a lot lately and they all have the same common theme....summer.  I'm ready for summer.  

And corn on the cob.  

Yum.

In the meantime, the big garden is on zucchini overload so we're going to be eating it lots of different ways in the coming weeks.  Good thing we like it.  

And now...now it's time to sleep.  

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Wednesday, May 20, 2015

My Baby Lifts Weights


 You know, nothing should surprise me anymore.  

Weightlifting?

That surprises me.

Last year Brian had to be pulled from this weightlifting competition because we were in Europe and I didn't really get what the whole thing was about.

Basically, I was relieved we were out of town.

As part of football (which I also poo poo'd, sigh) the boys have morning lift every day before school at 6:00am.  Brian had a head start thanks to an older brother who was a lifter and who was, thankfully, obsessed with proper form and technique and sneaking out and oh dear, you should hear the high school stories that boy has...or maybe not.

Sigh.

That boy has grown up and it's hard to imagine he was ever that hard...so hang in there if you have a hard to raise kiddo.  

Anyway, Brian loves lifting.

There was a huge competition with other schools and he got entered in (up a weight class even) and we went to gasp and ooh and ahh and cover our eyes at the scary parts.

I mean, we went to cheer him on.

My baby.  THIS is MY baby?

He won 2nd place, that boy of mine. 

I won 2nd place in the mothering category...I was in front of the mother who climbed through the security barrier to take pictures but behind the mother who stoically kept a straight face while I (only twice, mind you) yelled 'HELP HIM!' when a lifter seemed to be struggling.

Way (weight?) to go, Brian.

What's next?

PS.  Watch out, big brothers.  Little brother is coming for you.

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Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Here's A Taste


Twice this week I've gone to Cafe Rio.  TWICE.  And, I hate to say it, there might be a third time because third times a charm, right?  My family does not share my love (addiction?) for this place and I just don't get it...but that's ok.  I'm fine goin' it alone for lunch.

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Thanks to a very generous and hidden away Christmas gift, we renewed our Disney passes for the upcoming year.  We use them a lot and it's so fun to just go and hang out for a few hours.  Last week we went to Disneyland and rode a few rides before heading to The Grand Californian for a cocktail and a much needed cheese plate.

Being a grown up can suck sometimes and then at other times it totally rocks.  Wouldn't want it to be easy all the time, right?

Well...yes, I would.  But that's ok.

Throwback to my birthday.  This describes us in a nutshell.

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That guy that I like so much had a birthday, too, and we had a little celebration for him.  There was some wine and some cake and some food and some friends and a whole lotta laughing.  This is the (gulp!) 31st birthday of his we've celebrated together...isn't that crazy?

Dr Busch...I like you.  Keep chugging along cuz I'm not ready to part with you yet.

I love text messaging.  And yeah, we'll grow up sometime.  Maybe.

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So for that guy that I like so much's birthday, we went to one of those luxury movie theaters where they wait on you and you get a recliner and oh me oh my, we almost had to sell the youngest child (that's why we brought him along, just in case) to pay for it but it was so much fun.

That bucket of popcorn (to go with the martini) was spicy chili and caramel and I ate the whole gosh darn thing myself.

I might never go to a regular movie again...especially since I have no more young 'uns to sell off.

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So on Sunday night, we went to this crazy thing called Beer and Hymns.  

 We met our friends (and about 200 other 'friends') at a local dive bar and drank beer and belted out hymns all night long.  

I learned a few things:
1. I am a GREAT singer, especially after a beer.
2. Especially when backed by a bluegrass/folksy band
3. There is NOTHING like singing All hail The Power Of Jesus Name, in a bar.  
4. I cry easily.

It was crazy fun and I want to somehow bring live music to the garden.  

For reals.

(and that's our waiter, Tyler...the photobomber)

The babe, in Busch boy tradition, got a flat top.

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That's all I got for now.  It's the last month of school and the push is on to finish it all up.  I'm dreaming of summer time...sleeping in and sunshine and garden parties and warm weather.

It's coming...and I'm ready.

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Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Middle Of The week


The grapes are growing and thanks to a friend who is a professional grape grower (as in, a wine maker), they are growing better and prettier than before.  

I can't wait to eat them.

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Mother's Day 2015 involved meat.  Lots of meat.

Mother's Day 2015 proved to be a very happy day for Buddy the Dog, too.  We gave him a Fred Flinstone sized bone and put him outside...he sat and drooled at the door until we felt sorry for him and let him in.

Oh, how I love this dog.

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5/7th of us were together.  

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We scored a last minute Beachcomber reservation for breakfast...something that never happens.  It was cloudy and chilly and the waves were high and the coffee was hot and the beignet were incredible.

I needed that morning.

We walked a few miles along the beach and were kinda quiet the whole time.  I'm feeling a bit unsettled lately...work is super busy, the house is super full,  time is moving super fast.

I needed a quiet morning with that guy that I like so much...a morning to just be quiet.  I like him.  A lot.

There is something about the ocean...and toes in the sand, that grounds me.  I feel the same way about being in the mountains so I'm thinking for me it has something to do with just being outside in the fresh air.  

I like that it makes me feel small.  

I like that it makes my God feel big.

We did a big Costco run yesterday and yes, we did get some food too.  A little anyway.  

Houston, we have a hot sauce problem over here in our little house on our little street.  Everyone has a fave (and one of mine puts hot sauce on every. single. thing he eats which drives me nuts.  cough, couch, brian, cough, cough) but I personally think anything chipotle is good.

I've been making my summer list...it's pretty much the same as every other summer list.  Clean out closets, read a bunch of books, catch up on movies, sit for hours in my garden, grow lots of veggies, complete a new to me bible study.

I love lists.  Sometimes I even write 'make a list' on my list so I can cross it off.

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Monday, May 11, 2015

Mother's Day 2015 (and a disturbing story)

Mother's Day 2015.  

There were gifts and flowers and this adorable vase that I guess I'll tell you about but please, fasten your seat belts.  It's a crazy one.

So a few years ago my girlfriend had a big 'ole surprise birthday party.  There were a bazillion people there, including my boys and all their friends, and great music and speeches and food and a DISCO BALL and, well...gallons upon gallons of alcohol for the over 21 crowd.

The night started out great.  Lots of dancing and singing and we had so much fun and then things turned a bit blurry.  I'm not sure how many cocktails were consumed but there is a video out there of me belly dancing...and then I twirled and twirled and twirled and walked right out the door.  That guy that I like so much ran after me and somehow I ended up at home but all that is, like I said, a little blurry...and the video will forever remain in the vault.

I'm blaming the disco ball.
The next morning was a Sunday and I rolled out of bed and zig zagged myself to the bathroom when I noticed that not only was I still fully dressed in my party clothes, but I was still wearing my high heels.

I was wearing my shoes all. night. long.

That guy that I like so much didn't even take off my shoes.  20 some years of marriage and you'd have thought he'd at least take my shoes off??

That morning was rough.  I showered, we climbed into the car and went to church and afterwards went to lunch.  I wasn't feeling so hot and then I realized that it was Father's Day.  Oops.  But then I remembered the whole not removing the shoe thing and I looked at him and said (in a kinda monotone voice) 'Happy Father's Day...but then again,  EVERY day is Father's Day'.

Not my finest moment but seriously, I slept in my shoes.

That party, and the after effects, are the stuff legends (and endless stories) are made of.  And every Father's Day and every Mother's Day...well, now we just laugh and remind each other that every day IS our day.

And PS.  No, I'll never let him forget.  It's just too good a story to let it go away.
And PPS.  Disco balls rock.  I got one for my birthday.

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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

My Birthday

Last week was a happy week.

It was my birthday.

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I like birthday's...mine, yours, dogs, cats.  Doesn't matter to me.  I just feel like life is worth celebrating.

The older I get...and I'm getting older, the more I like them.

There was a small garden party and a breakfast out and a lunch out and a fancy dinner out and a lunch at my girlfriends.  It was one big food fest.  

I got lots of fun things too...but people, let me tell you.  I got a disco ball.  Like, a real, light up, dance the night away disco ball.  I'm still laughing about it and that guy that I like so much is still cringing...which makes it even more fun.

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Lots of little stuff happening around these parts.  One boy is trying to figure things out.  Another boy is waiting for a decision to be made.  Another boy is making plans for the future.  That guy that I likes so much is almost (almost!) on summer break.  I am, too...but I have a another month or so before I am officially off.

 Our house has been a bit full lately...almost like there is a revolving door for a front door.  I'll admit, I like that.  I like that we are 'the' house.  I like that we have 'the' garden.  But then again, I like that there are times of quiet and calm and still.

I'm striving to find a bit of quiet each day and that is my resolution for this coming year of my life.  To take a few minutes each day...a few minutes without a phone in my hand or music playing or the tv on.  A few minutes to just sit in the quiet and let God read my heart...to take all the jumbled stuff that I can't quite figure out how to say out loud and let him just handle.

My other resolution?  To start back on my life changing thyroid meds which I stopped taking a few months ago.  Turns out that's not such a good idea and I've learned my lesson well.  So until the dosage is right I am a hyper, jumpy mess who is extremely thankful for my hiking trail.

 So far into this new year it's all good.  I'm still dwelling on relationships that I can't change and dwelling on the ones I have because overanalyzing things is what I do best.  I just want one big happy, sappy life and you know what?  Sometimes you just have to let go.  Everything I wrote earlier?

I need to focus on that.

Here's to a new year.  This is the last year of a decade for me and I'm going to take it for a ride.

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