Glimpses At Life

The last few weeks have gone by so fast and I was shocked when I walked smack dab into Christmas at Costco yesterday.  September has barely been kissed and we're already at Christmas?

I'm not ready.

I am ready for the routine of school to start.  Brian is gearing up...registration was earlier this week and his birthday, his 15th birthday,  is this weekend.  The first day of school is next Tuesday...and I'm ready.  I think he's ready, too.

First up (and this is a horrible picture and the girls are gonna be mad)...weekly cookie baking, where my kitchen is full of girls and stories and gossip and sometimes a little cat fight (and not between the cats) or two happens.

For a momma of boys?

Fun.

=0)

Look quick.

My little house on my little street was clean.

Life, lately, resembles a frat house.

Seriously.

He and me.  He and I.  Me and him.

Wine in hand, we walked around the lake only to be stopped by two sweet missionaries who saw us as heathen prey and tried to invite us to their church.

He (that guy that I like so much) explained that he was a church worker, sipped his wine, and watched their eyes grow big as saucers.

Thank you, Jesus, for the miracle at the wedding.

=0)

The relatives from the North came for the weekend to see friends and surf, crashed with us for a few nights (and were completely understanding of the fact that we were gone every night) and then left for home with our car.  Their car broke down and is in the shop here and we have an extra car right now.

A trade back will happen at some point but in the meantime we get the better deal...their car is fixed and much newer than ours.

Win.

Also a win?  Boy cousins. 

=0)

Turkish food.

Sigh,

That guy that I like so much and I went on a date we couldn't afford the other night and it was so gosh darn perfect...a warm night, great food, great wine.

But even better was the chance to slow down and sit, to be away from work emails, just us.  I sure do like him and am finding myself missing him.  Sounds strange, but we share so much of ourselves with others that I just needed some time away with him.

I love that he needs that, too.

=0)

 Waiting to get my hairs (plural) cut, I came across this.

Yum.

Makin' it tonight.  Report to follow, but what can be bad?

The first Broncos game was last night and our houseful of boys was full.  Of boys.

Shocker.

It's 4:00am and I cannot sleep.  Because my life cannot seem to be interesting enough, I'm being interviewed in a few hours by a Slovakian news station (about what my company does and how we do it and why we do it) that will air only in Europe...all while I stand on a busy street corner.  And if that doesn't make it crazy enough,  I'll be subtitled.

I'll let you know when it airs...just in case you happen to be in Slovakia sometime soon.

=0)

Brothers

I was sitting on my computer last night and and couldn't help but laugh at some pictures that were on my desktop.  This summer had some really, really great moments...moments that I'm clinging to as life begins to speed up again.

Brothers are a funny thing.  I'm pretty sure you'll never in a million years catch my crew sitting around a table discussing their feelings.  You will; however, find them continually trying to one up each other in some way, shape or form.

You can hold a ball?  Well, I can hold two!  Oh yeah?  I can juggle!  Well watch this...I can juggle faster than you!

It's exhausting, but does make for some fun times when they are all together.

They're annoying and cute and loud and they break things and they drive me absolutely crazy, but I like them.  The lot of them.

=0)

I just finished registering Brian for his Sophomore year of high school...he doesn't start until September 10th this year.  That's so late...but oh well.  He still needs a few things...a back pack and basketball shoes and a birthday celebration, but other than that he's ready.

In the meantime, there is a steady stream of peeps in and out of the house eating us out of house and home.  The house is actually a wreck...there is boy stuff everywhere, their bathroom is in a constant state of 'ick' and there seems to never be enough milk or eggs.  I'll take it, though.  The quiet is coming soon...and I'll take that too.  

=0)

  

Job Security

Last week was one of those interesting weeks for me...kind of a surreal experience.  I travelled to Michigan for work, to a town I used to live in, to start up a new program.  Michigan, it turns out, has street corners just like here.

I have job security as long as there are crossing guards on street corners.

=0)

My old house is still there, still the same color, still in the same place but with a different street name.  Things change, yet they don't...especially in smaller towns.  I like that...I like that some things don't change.  There is a familiarity that comes with that, a comfort, a feeling of peace.

I live in a place that seems to continually be changing, in a place where new is better, where if it's not broke, let's change it anyway.  Not everything is like that, of course, but I just feel...unsettled lately.  I can't quite pin point where those feelings are coming from, but I think it's because my role in life is changing.

 I am struggling to find balance.  I am still a wife.  And a mom.  But now I work...and actually have a job I really enjoy.  I like the freedom of my work and I think I'm pretty good at what I do.  But then I let doubt creep in...can I manage it all?  Or will I fail miserably at it all?

So I'm trying...trying really hard to hold my head up and take a deep breath and point my face to heaven.  I'm trying to trust that I am doing exactly what I should be doing.  

Anyway, I really liked last week.  I got to know my boss better and understand how things are run...but it's good to be home.  It felt good to come home to a house that needed a good cleaning and to boys that missed me and a guy that I like so much who was excited to see me.

Job security on the home front.

=0)

 This is yet another of life's transitions, I guess.  If it's not one thing, it's another.   

This weekend...this weekend was perfect.  Lots of garden time with my family.  Lots of cooking and laundry and picking up things that needed picking up.  Lots of time to pray.  Lots of time to just be...to not worry about what's supposed to be happening next.

I feel rested.

This week is busy...but not too busy.  Work will take six hours of each day and the remainder will be spent doing the other stuff...boys stuff and wife stuff and house stuff.  Meals are planned for the next week and I've got my hiking shoes laced up and ready to go...it's time to get back into the routine of exercising.

The other big change?  My alarm is set for early...tomorrow morning I am going to make time for some quiet time before my day even begins.  God's been waiting ever so patiently for me and tomorrow morning, I'm going to show up for Him.

=0)

It's Pretty Here

This morning my alarm went off at 3:00am and by 3:45am I was on my way to the big airport in the big city.  I flew to Denver and sprinted (seriously) to my next flight...thanks Expedia for the 22 minute connection.  The way home should be a breeze...I have a whole 40 minute layover.

Whew.

I'm not a nervous flyer; in fact, I love to travel.  I don't like that I'm wedged in and I don't love that United Airlines doesn't so much as give you a peanut for free anymore, but I love that I'm going somewhere and that I'm going somewhere fast.

Not that I don't love a roadtrip now and then, but there's something to be said about getting from point A to point B in the blink of an eye.

On this trip I was gazing out the window and noticed that a screw on the wing was circled with red sharpie...and there went my stressless flight.  Why was it circled?  Why?  Why?  Why?

And now I'm hanging in two towns...Grand Rapids and Wyoming, both in Michigan.  It's pretty here.  The trees are big and mature and green and the houses all have front yards and back yards and side yards.  It's very, very different than where I live and it makes me love this world we live in so very, very much...I love sandy beaches and I love mountains and trees.  I'm pretty easy that way and could live anywhere...as long as I have my loves with me.

And I'm missing my loves right now...so I'm off to sleep.  

=0)

On A Trip

This morning, I am on an airplane...flying to a faraway state.  On a business trip, because, well, I have a job now that makes me laugh.  Seriously, every morning I wake up and think that today they're gonna catch on that I really don't know what they think I know and that it will all end, like, now.

But instead, I'm on a business trip.  To Michigan.  To a town that I lived in for quite a few years while I was growing up.  I've got a TON of work to do in the next few days, starting up a whole new program virtually overnight.

Who would've ever thought?

My God...well, He has quite the sense of humor.

=0)

Last night I should have been in bed early because I have to leave for the airport at 3:45am but instead I was sitting at my neighbors while they once again fed my whole family supper.  For the record, I had made dinner and everyone ate it.  Also for the record, Alev's dinner was better.  

It always is.

Also for the record...I have toes for thumbs.  To put it more clearly...my thumbs look like toes.  Seriously.  They do.  

Jealous?

=0)

A Rather Busy Week

I have been working so very, very much the last few weeks and will continue to for the next few before I settle in to being 'normal' again.  Not that there is ever a normal in my line of work, but one can hope. 

At a job fair the other day I got a call from someone I work with asking where oh where I was...I told him to go towards the chicken and turn left.  Because seriously, there was a chicken...a real, live chicken cluck, cluck, clucking around.  Not a normal sight in SoCal.

=0)

I love text messages like this.  Cooking makes me happy.

=0)

I drove an SUV full of boys to the beach yesterday and my plan was to go with them...but hunger won out over sand time and I hadn't packed anything to eat.  I dropped them off and grabbed a salad from Bristol Farms (a goat cheese ravioli salad, in case you were wondering...and it was the best thing ever, ever, ever) and then ran in to See's for a box.  Or two.

One for that guy that I like so much, who adores their dark chocolate truffles and one box for me.  On the way home with the now sandy boys in my car,  I caved and offered them a few...and now, well that guy that I like so much has a box and I need to go buy some more.

Worth it as my rating on the 'cool mom ' meter skyrocketed.

That guy that I like so much was out of town and somehow I ended up alone for supper...Brian had practice and Alex was out, so I had super nutritious piece of salami and a handful of chips.  And a beer.  Eaten in my pj's while attempting to watch the Real Housewives reunion show.

Why do they have to be so mean?  Why?  

In household news...we now have power in our whole house again, thanks to our rock star neighbor who somehow figured out our crazy electrical problem.  We now owe him a lamb...or at least the leg of one.

=0)

But then...because smooth sailing is not one of those things we are ever blessed with, our million dollar 4 year old microwave broke.  The microwave that we bought to match the million dollar stove when we remodeled.  When I got online to search for a fix, I was appalled at what I was reading.  I called a repairman and was told the fix was $700.  (Did you just laugh?  Me too.)  Our specific model was discontinued after a year because of a major flaw and while it should have been recalled, GE tried to sweep it under the rug.

I...well, I was mad.  During that period of madness I penned a letter to GE explaining my situation and what I had read online.  I may have even said something along the lines that I was ashamed of them.  I may have even talked about days long gone where things weren't built to be disposable and I may have even thrown in something about standing behind a name.

Within 24 hours I had a reply.

GE is my hero.  They did the right thing.  I'm sure it doesn't matter to them how I feel but I am proud of them and will, the next time I buy an appliance, give them my business.

I'm happy tomorrow is Friday...helloooo weekend!  There's a pedicure on the agenda and a long supper planned in the garden.  In between there is a freezer to defrost and chicken stock to be made and a work meeting from home and a lunch date with the cutest 14 year old around.

The last part is my favorite.

=0)

A Girls Weekend

I noticed the leaves disappearing from my beautiful tomato plants and then....then I noticed that my tomatoes were disappearing too.

This worm...this ginormous worm, he ate it all.  

I guess I should be happy...he left me with the stems.  How generous of him.

Next year, I won't be so nice about it but for this year?  Well, the damage is done.

My girlfriend Tammy came for the weekend and us girls spent a LOT of time on the beach.  I am thankful for girl time and feel so ready to tackle life now...it was a really, really great weekend.

Naps on the beach?  The best.

Alex and his friends went on a weekend adventure to San Francisco and saw Paul McCartney perform...I love that they kept sending along pictures.  

=0)

Brian loves Tammy.  I love Tammy.  We all love Tammy.

Seriously...can I be her when I grow up???

Play time is over and it's back to work time. Sort of, anyway.  Brian has asked for a beach day tomorrow...life's rough, but I guess I'll have to take him.

=0)