Weekend highlights

Here are some great pics from the weekend. Sledding, kayaking, skating! We had a great time playing a "hockey game" with the orange cone - girls against boys! This was a shot of "puck off"! The weather was amazing as you tell from the half dome shot. When the sun went down while we were ice skating a big full moon came over half dome - STUNNING!

Family Time

We are at the cabin with my brother's family and are having a FABULOUS time! Today we went fishing and kayaking. Gracie, Sam and Jack hopped in a kayak and were halfway across the lake before I could even get mine launched! They were fearless. It helped that the lake was like glass. At the same time Jim had the pontoon mama out and they were catching trout after trout. They caught a couple of trout that were so big they looked like salmon. I will have some great pics once I get them downloaded!

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield

I just finished The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield for the book club I am joining. DUMB DUMB DUMB! Do not waste your time reading it. There is nothing I can say about it except....what was the point????

Happy Heart Day

Hope you all had a great Valentine's Day.

Ours was uneventful. Drew got a purple basketball. Gracie got a stuffed frog and Jim got a book about emrgency medical care in the back country! I got a lot of hugs and kisses. And Drew made dinner and frosted the heart shaped cake we made.

All in all a good day!

The Glasses

The Glasses
By Grace M.

There was once a little boy named Drew. One day his glasses fell into a lake. He started to cry. But his mother told him a story. This was the story:

There is a fish down there that is not so cool and he is going to find your glasses. He is going to swim into school and say, “HEY! Like my glasses?” But the other fish still didn’t really like him. So he went out hunting for some other cool stuff. He went to the barber shop to get a new hair do. Then he went to the mall to get some new clothes. While he was at the mall, he got some new swim shoes that say “Go T” on them. Then he went searching around for a comb to comb is hair. There was a nice comb over by the boat ramp where a boat was getting launched. So, he tried to stay out of its way so he was not caught. He swam back to school and said, “Do you guys think I am cool?” “Yea, you are the coolest,” said the fish. And then they said “do you want to go out and have some dinner or a snack with us?”

They went out for some food at the Breakfast Fish Inn. They had some stuff to eat and a glass of sea water. And they went on their way. They were right in time for the annual fish race!

That is Drew’s mom’s story. It made him forget about losing his glasses.

The End

I have a really cool brother. Here are a few of the things about him that makes him awesome:

• He loves his kids unconditionally and with all his heart and soul and they know it.
• He is committed to his wife and his marriage - there is no doubt about it.
• He loves Scooby Doo as much now as he did when he was eight.
• He is kind hearted and down to earth.
• I can count on him for anything.
• He is a great Uncle B to my kids.
• He takes the time to follow his interests, whether it is tennis, writing or going to Vegas.
• He just wrote a children's book based on a story he told Sam and Jack.
• He grows an enormous garden every summer that harvests enough tomatoes for a small nation and he is always willing to share.

I am so proud to call him my brother. Everyone should be so lucky.

Parenthood

I am mostly happy with the way our kids have turned out so far.....except..... Drew was sick yesterday and he has got to be the most pathetic and dramatic sick person I ever met (excluding my mom). It is so dramatic that I have to fight off giggles! Good luck to his wife some day!

Daughter Dad date

Gracie and Jim went out on a date last nite. They attended a winter mountaineering session at our local REI. Just what we need, Jim with more ideas about how to backpack in a driving snow storm and sleep in a hand made snow cave. They had a great time. Gracie enjoyed the pics the speaker showed.

workout

I have been working out at the gym, almost exclusively, so I have not been running much. And I have really picked up my workout routine, doing 1 hour and 20 minutes of cardio a day, doing weights almost everyday, etc.

This morning I went out running for the first time in a while and to stay up with my more intense workout, I did sprints and football agility excercises (the tire thing). The dog must have thought I was crazy! As soon as I would do the agility excercises, she would run back to me and stay right next to me! And when I sprinted, she would turn up the speed too! We must have looked like quite the sight at the crack of dawn!

job update

For those wondering, work is ok. The big announcement last week knocked me off my stride for one day but that was all. I took the weekend - got myself together - and went back monday ready to kick some serious butt. The "dream team" that I work with have the same strategy and we are plowing forward!

If anything, this made us MORE focused!

oops

I have a tray in my kitchen that is filled with tea cups, tea bags, sugar, etc. It is out on the counter vs in a cupboard because I am a tea addict and drink it all day long. This way it is easy to grab a cup, fill it with hot water from our insta hot, pop in a tea bag and be on my way. The tray also serves as a catch all for random small items - jewelry, gum, pictures, coins, etc.

Recently, I grabbed a cup, started filling it with hot water, looked down to see my watch and earrings covered in about half a cup of hot water!!!! My watch no longer works - the earrings are fine!

A bad day?

Just as I was commiserating about my bad day, one of my girlfriends told me about hers:

Her team at work accidently shut down the company network for an hour, caused a building to be evacuated and set off the halon system!

BUMMER!

Note to SS: You are my hero!

Book Club

I am starting a book club and will be reading The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield. I am looking forward to reading a book at the same time as other people and getting the opportunity to chat about it.

Super Bowl

Honestly, I like Super Bowl better than Christmas! And this year is an exceptionally good one: great teams, we are at the cabin, it is snowing on and off and we have tons of snackies!

We took a hike in the hail and rain to work up and appetite for:

• stuffed mushrooms
• pineapple
• chili cheese dip
• spinach dip
• sausages

Should be a delightful afternoon.

Bad Book Review

I read a ridiculous book this weekend: Where or When by Anita Shreve. She is also the author of The Pilot's Wife, which I read a number of years ago and did not like. It is a story of two people who fell in love when they were 14 and in summer camp and found each other 31 years later. It tells of how they wrote letters back and forth for awhile and then met each other at the old camp. It details how they found love in each other again, but left their families in ruins. Dumb book that I skipped numerous pages of because I could not stomach the flashbacks to camp again! Don't waste your time reading it.

Weekend Update

So after the drama of Friday, we packed up and left town. I needed some time to get a game plan together without being assaulted by modern media - who only know 9% of the story - the rest is just wild speculation!

The best place to clear your head is in the middle of the quiet wilderness. So we packed up our snow shoes, fishing poles, cooler and chairs and went to Cherry Lake. The snow was about 4 feet deep and it snowed nonstop all day. We snow shoed down to the lake and tossed in a line. Then we went about to building the mother of all snow forts! After a few hours, we hiked back up to the truck, had lunch and sledded for a couple hours. All in all, a great way to get rejuvanated and be ready to kick some serious butt on Monday when returning to work.

job update

For those who follow.....yes - I am still employed but for how long, who knows...... This is a crazy place to be. Lot's of drama. It is like living in a soap opera on a normal day so you can imagine what this is like.

For Good

I am working on getting a $5k grant for the kids school.

My company has an employee foundation that is funded by employee donations. As long as you donate to the foundation, you can champion a cause for a charity and request a grant from $3k to $40k. With the budget cuts in California, the schools are getting less and less money. This grant, if approved, will fund reading programs - which with Gracie's reading issues - is a cause near and dear to my heart! So keep you fingers crossed that it gets approved.

Like Auntie, Like Niece

Love this pic of Amelia - she is looking just like her Auntie Chris! She is - for sure - working a big case!

Thank goodness for back up plans!

Remember the make-up/gym debacle a couple years ago? For those who were not loyal readers back then, I forgot all my makeup when going to the gym and had to run across the street to Safeway and purchase cheap makeup to get thru the day - I ended up looking like a hooker all day at work!

Because of that situation, I have carried a "back up" makeup bag in my gym bag every since! It has small containers of the bare minimum to prevent me from looking dead at work. Well......today I NEEDED it! I left my makeup bag at home. I was so happy to have it with me. But it did not solve all my problems - it had my watch in it so I have no watch today and I forgot my new bottle of mousse - so my hair is totally wild!

I guess it is just MONDAY!!!

Movie Review

Jim and I saw the movie Juno today. It was really, really good. It was a bit quirky but that added to the appeal of the movie. The young actress who played Juno was great! Definitely worth a trip to the movie theater and a large popcorn!

A trip to Toys R Us

The kids had some leftover xmas cash and saved allowance and since it was a rainy, quiet, stay at home day, we took a trip to Toys R Us - which is a rare treat!

Drew had done his research online and knew what he wanted - a nerf gun! http://www.hasbro.com/nerf/default.cfm?page=viewproduct&product_id=17889

Gracie was just there to look around and see if there was anything that made her money "burn a hole in her pocket". She asked the cashier if they had any Nintendo DS System and was dissapointed when he said no and that they and other stores wouldn't have any until next month. So she walked away and looked around some more. Just then the cashier came up and had just had one returned, unopened! And it was pink! She dug up all her money ($93.50 in cass, $7.58 in aToyr R Us gift card and $25 american express gift card!) and happily paid. With the addition of the game, she owes me $48.50 because I covered the overage.

They are happy kids.

They eat ANYTHING!!!!

I have always said our kids eat anything and lots of it. This morning was the perfect example: Gracie was begging for a grapefruit! I didn't eat grapefruit until I was well into adulthood - it was always way to sour. But Gracie thinks they are big special treat! Then after she finished the grapefruit, she moved onto sushi! Yep! Sushi for breakfast. Crazy!

And on Wednesday they ate antelope for dinner! ICK! Luckily I was not home so I did not have to see it happen.

HOORAY!

I found a lost item!!!

I had lost my nightguard at xmas time up at the cabin and I had been making myself crazy looking for it. It was like it had grown legs and walked away. And I was suffering. I grind my teeth and clench like crazy at nite so my teeth and jaw hurt!

So, when we were at the cabin this weekend, I was searching like a hound dog but was not successful until the last hour we were there. I was cleaning and putting away the vacuum cleaner and turned around to see the light catching it just right....under the dresser!!! SCORE!!!!!

I couldn't wait to get home and go to sleep so I could use it!!

Oh! The simple pleasures!

Shoulder Update

I saw my shoulder surgeon yesterday for my 6 week check up. He said I was doing better than most people and he thought in the end I would do very well. I do have some new pain which he feels is related to the surgery. In addition it is probably related to my starting full time back to my work out routine - last week I logged 18 miles on foot and 26 miles on bike! And every time I take a running step my shoulder had to work to stabilize my arm so it is working hard.

So the plan is to add some anti inflammatory meds, keep icing and do the strengthing, stretching and range of movement excercises.

Duck, Duck, Goose

My mom and dad had my nephews and niece on Sunday. Part of the adventures of the day included a golf cart ride to feed the ducks! There were so many hungry ducks that they didn't even need to get out of the cart. Mimi was fascinated with the ducks!

A wise bear once said.....

“A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.” ~ Winnie the Pooh

The same can be said about me!

Near Miss

I can not believe I forgot to blog about this....

I have been griping recently that we spent $1074 in the last month on fuel for our two trucks! That is really sick! That is a lot of money just to move around. But it does include a couple trips to the cabin, which includes trips into Yosemite. So, I started thinking about the trade off of getting a third vehicle - one to drive around town and keep the beasty Tahoe for trips to the cabin or pulling boats. I was thinking of leasing a little VW Bug or even researching a hybrid.

But this weekend changed my mind in one split second. Gracie and I were on the way to her basketball game and were stopped at a traffic light waiting to turn left. I was distracted when the light turned green, so I did not go right away (I was pointing out to Gracie that the time was 1234 - 12:34). It is a good thing because once I started going, a car ran the red light coming from our left at about 50 MPH! We missed being hit be a few feet. The car never even slowed down! If I had gone right when the green light turned, we would have been crushed - and the hit would have occurred on our side of the truck.

If we were hit, I would rather have been in my rig then in a VW Bug. So I am now happily paying for my fuel and calling it life insurance.

Body Worlds

We took Jim's folks to the Body World's exhibit today as a Christmas gift.

It is the weirdest exhibit I have ever seen. Basically they take real human bodies and thru a special process called plastination, preserve them so you can see all parts of the bodies: muscles, organs, bones, nerves.

It was literally like seeing real skinned bodies. They had a section that showed babies and a pregnant woman. And they had bodies posed in different positions so you could see how the muscles, tendons and bones worked. There were a soccer player, a skateboarder and an ice skater.

I am pretty intrigued by the human body and am not very squeamish, but there was something about this exhibit that gave me the eeby jeebies!

Check it out:

http://www.thetech.org/bodyworld/

Basketball Game

Gracie had her first basketball game this weekend. It was a riot! There was quite a bit of traveling going on. According to a 7 and 8 year old, you run, run, run....then dribble! It was a hoot to watch! Gracie got 2 baskets and made many more attempts. Even as a brand new player, she was clearly in the game!

She loves her jersey so much that she has been wearing it since the game! Stinky girl!

I will take pics next time.

Mavericks

Yesterday Jim and Drew stopped to pull crabs at 6 am on their way to Mavericks surf competition. Mavericks is a world famous surf competition that occurs once a year off the coast of Half Moon Bay. Mavericks is an unusual spot with over 20 foot waves off the coast of California. As the organizers say: "There they will face cold water, strong currents, unpredictable conditions, huge waves, and each other in a surfing contest like no other on the planet." When they call the contest, the contestants have only have 24 hours to get there! Yesterday there were about 50,000 spectators. The vast majority of those spectators are on the land which is located about 1/2 miles from the waves. Jim and Drew were in the boat close enough to see the action without high power binoculars.

Super cool experience for a 12 year old kid!

Chicken Farming

Betty has been a "kept chicken" for months. All she has been doing is eating and eating and requiring care - no giving back! After months of a dry spell, she started laying eggs again. Here is a pic of her recent two eggs. Seconds later, Grace dropped one - if you look closely, it has 2 yolks!

Whose out there?

I have noticed some spots on my cluster map in places where I don't know anyone. Who is out there? If I don't know you, email me and tell me about yourself and why you read this blog.

pontoonmamablog@yahoo.com

It is up!

Here is our new basketball hoop! The kids are fired up! In fact, everyone is fired up - except for me. They are all out playing basketball with the neighbor (Toby's dad). And I am inside safely blogging!

Basketball Practice

Gracie had her first basketball practice last nite. And as a good mom, I left work early so I could check it out and show support.

MISTAKE!

After being in meetings back to back all day and driving home in bumper to bumper traffic for over an hour.....I walked into the basketball gym to the sight and sound of over 100 kids (age 5 to 8) practicing basketball.

Literally - there were over 100 kids in a small gym and every kid had their own basketball!!! It was a total assault on the senses!

In bad mom fashion, I left after 15 minutes with the excuse that I would go start dinner!

ICK!!!

When I got up this morning to come to the gym at 5:15 am, I grabbed a yogurt out of the fridge for breakfast. Normally, I eat yogurt and grapenuts mixed together after I work out. When I got to my desk and was starving -- I broke out my yogurt......only to discover that it is key lime flavored! ICK!!!!!!

Drew loves that flavor so I sometimes buy some of it for him. I think it is horrendously nasty. First of all.....it is glow in the dark green! Second of all.....it tastes like bathroom cleaner smells! Double ICK!!!

I have a really busy day, so I had a choice to eat it or starve until lunch time. I woke up starving this morning and then did 1 hour on an elipitcal machine.....so I really had no choice. I am currently choking down the yogurt with extra grapenuts to cut the bathroom cleaner taste!

Update: After 4 bites I couldn't take it anymore and threw it away. I will starve!

Purchased

The kids completed their research and made their purchase - they are the proud owners of a new basketball hoop! It is costing them each $122. Although there may be an additional installation charge - Jim is trying to get them to pay him to install it!?!?! They found what they wanted and it was on sale - they save $100.

They did a great job shopping, comparing products and pricing and then pitching the whole thing to Jim and I. They listened to our input and revised their plan appropriately! It was a great lesson. I will post pics once we get it up.

Basketball

The kids called me at work today and told me that they have been looking online and want to purchase a basketball hoop. They are each willing to pay $250 of their own money! They have done measurements and know what they want and where they want it to go. They have figured out where to put it so that our cars will still fit in the driveway.

I am proud of their initiative.

The funny thing is.....the want it NOW! They are done doing their research and want to make the purchase!

Stay tuned!

New sport

Gracie starts basketball tomorrow! It will be her first time playing and we are really looking forward to it! She has the height and the interest, now let's see if she has the skill! More to come.....

Home for Wayward Dogs...

This is Vadar - he is an emotionally unbalanced chihuahua mix! His owner is my friend Deb. Deb and family went down south for a couple days and left Vadar and his sister dog, Panda, home alone for about 6 hours while the dog sitter was on his way over. This was last Friday when the weather was so bad. The dog sitter was unable to make it thru the bad weather so we got an emergency call to go rescue Vadar who was at home in their bedroom, growling under the bed!

He was already on the edge because his family was gone. Now add 50 mph winds and torrential rain and he was a train wreck. After a lot of work from one of Deb's neighbors, Vadar comes out from under the bed. We load him into his crate and bring him to our house.

After a few hours chillin' in his crate, we let him out. He seemed quite happy snuggling on the couch with us.

We took him back the next day when the dog sitter was able to make it. He seemed no worse for the wear.

Daisy, on the other hand, had a totally disgruntled look on her face the whole time Vadar was here!

Highlights from the Holidays

So all of you know I am a big Bah Humbug about the holidays....way to much work, eating and shopping for me!

But I did want to make sure I noted the fun parts of the holiday:

• Jim and Gracie caught 21 trout in one day!
• I snowshoed to the top of the world (in Yosemite) with my friend Marty.
• The kids and I saw the movie - National Treasure and really enjoyed it.
• We watched 20 to 30 Scrubs shows on DVD. Hysterical!
• Went for long walks with the dog.
• I read a couple good books - Sick Girl noted below and a book about how to understand dogs.
• Played some good games: Nibs, You've Been Sentenced, Perfection, Stackers, Cribbage, Rummikub.

All in all - a good holiday.

The weather out there is frightful!

We are having three days of stormy weather, with today being the worst. It is really windy.

Poor Betty is getting blown all over. Jim let her in this morning and toweled her off. I fed her cream of wheat and cheddar cheese. She is a happy chicken!

Jim and Drew are off to check on the boat to make sure it is not filling with water.

We had a big power surge this morning but so far we still have power and I am working!

Rescue 911, Part 4

Actually I am not sure which part number this should be....I have lost track of how many rescues we have taken part in. But today was a record day, we did 2 separate rescues!

The first occurred on the way to Yosemite at about 11 am and was by far the most severe....we turned a corner on an icy highway to see a car that had just rolled over and gone off the road. We pulled over, got out our emergency kit and ran back to the scene. I took a look at the people involved in the crash while Jim went out to light flares. While standing there a couple more cars almost spun out.

Two people were in the car, that was now laying on its roof, with the windows smashed out. Both had gotten out of the car. It was a Dad and his teenage daughter. The man was bleeding from a cut on his hand and his head. The girl had one cut on the bridge of the nose that was not bleeding, however by the time we left the scene, her whole eye area was swollen and black and blue. I helped that man with supplies to stop the bleeding on his hand and advised them to move off the side of road for fear that another car would slide out into us.

No one could get any cell service to call for help so a passing car drove to the Yosemite entrance gate (about 4 miles away) and sent two rangers back. Once the rangers showed up, we moved on our way. We left with hopes that the two in the car accident would agree to receiving medical care because while we were there they were not interested in an ambulance, but they were in shock and not thinking clearly.

Then at the end of the day, when we were sledding, a young man approached us and asked if we could notify the ranger station on our way out that they were stranded. Apparently the man's young son put the end of a pen in the ignition of the car and broke it off. This left them unable to start the car!

So we went to the gas station in the area and had them call the ranger and advise them of the situation. We went back and told the man (and his young family) that the rangers were on the way. We checked that they had some food, water and enough warm clothing and headed home --hoping we weren't going to happen along someone else in need of assistance.

All in a days adventure!

Sick Girl

"Remarkable.....Compelling....A searing insight into the battle to stay alive." - TED KOPPEL

I started reading the book, "Sick Girl" last nite and less than 24 hours later I am almost done with it....it is that compelling of a read.

The book tells the story of a 24 year old woman who gets cardiomyopathy ( a really sick heart) and undergoes a heart transplant at 25. While on the transplant waiting list (which lasts for 2 months), she gets engaged. One year, to the date, after the transplant she gets married. She later graduates from law school, adopts a son and goes 17 years living with the battle of surviving a heart transplant.

The battle is what the book is all about. Most folks think that when you get a heart transplant, you are magically cured. This book tells a whole different story. What you have is a new type of illness. One that comes with nasty medication, fear of illness and uncomfortable and life threatening medical procedures. All wrapped around the greatest fear of death.

The book is hitting close to home -- as you all know -- my dad had a transplant 10 1/2 years ago and much like the author of the book, has lived a remarkably healthy and long life since. But the message to me is what looks to the outside to be a gift and a really lucky guy is also a guy who struggles everyday with the medication, the fears, the limitations and the waiting for bad news from doctors.

I as a daughter, distance myself from that part of the experience, more and more as the years pass. I take for granted that Dad is cured - but it is really much more complex than that.

This book is a compelling read even if you are not close to a heart transplant survivor. I encourage you to find a quiet spot and read it. It will expand your heart and your mind.

"Sick Girl" by Amy Silverstein

The Crab Vessel

Jim went crabbing today and a buddy took a pic of his boat as he went by.

Dinner for 40

I did a little research and discovered that $50 donated to the food bank feeds 40 people a big xmas dinner, including ham, potatoes, carrots, green beans, rolls and fruit. Gracie and I are feeling pretty good at the thought that 40 people are going to have a yummy dinner on xmas nite because of the money we donated!

So, if you haven't donated yet, now is the time. This is the best part of xmas - giving to those in need.

SMILE!

My nephew, Jackson, with a serious case of bedhead and orange teeth!

Gingerbread houses

Today was a cousin day! We got together this morning and made gingerbread houses. Here are the final products - Drew and Sam worked as a team and Gracie and Jack worked as a team. They turned out great! We had enough candy left over for a whole subdivision of gingerbread houses.

After the gingerbread houses we went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks, which was cute.

Giving back

The other nite I was opening the mail and made a comment that I had not yet given any money to the second harvest food bank for xmas. Gracie heard me and and said she wanted to give some money to the food bank too. She talked about wanting to give meals to hungry people. So she went off to find her money stash and brought me $4! She said that would feed 4 people a good meal!

So I made my donation of $50 and added her $4 for a grand total donations of $54 - which I hope fills 54 bellys with a good meal.

12 Years Old

This is Drew blowing out the candles on his 12 birthday. Handsome, isn't he? He is wearing his new Oregon State sweatshirt. He also received a Vans clothes, rip stick, SIMS game for Wii, a lego harbor and tech decks. He was a happy kid!

Family Giving Tree

We have a tradition with friends to volunteer wrapping xmas presents at the Family Giving Tree. This year there were 30 of us and we went down this weekend for a 2 hour shift. We had a new task this year -- checking the gifts against a recall list. Each gift coming into the warehouse had to be checked to ensure that it had not been recalled. It was not the most glamorous of jobs, but it had to be done. So we spent 1 1/2 hours pounding thru a huge pile of gifts. Once we oked them the children ran them to the appropriate area in the warehouse. In the hundreds and hundreds of gifts we checked, we only found one recall. That's Jim with the Sharks santa hat with the suspect item -- it was a boys jacket from Old Navy. And you would have guessed he found the Golden Ticket! We were all so excited to actually find a recalled item!

I have to say, this event is my favorite part of the holiday season.

At the tank

Here are pics from the Shark Tank game a couple weeks ago. Drew's team won 4 to 5. As always it was a big thrill to watch them play at the tank. Thanks to all our friends and family who came out to cheer him on. We are truly blessed! Drew is the one that has the 7 on his back - he is actually #17.

A turning point

Jim was on the phone to the doctor tonite trying to get antibiotics for his very obvious sinus infection. Drew called me into the family room while Jim was on the phone and asked if you could die from a sinus infection.

He has been very concerned about both his parents dieing recently. He was worried I was going to die while in surgery. He even told me before hand that he was really nervous that I would die.

Tonite, I took the opportunity to sit down and talk about his feelings and about how he seems to really worry about one of his parents dieing lately. He admitted that he does worry. I asked him if it was because one of his classmates father died about a month ago very suddenly. And he had a team mate last year who lost a dad very suddenly. And our neighbor just died. He said it wasn't because of that but he didn't know why he worried.

His next words were, "can you die from a cough", which is Jim's other main sympton.

I am realistic when I respond and say that you could die from a cough or sinus infection if you had other issues, such as a supressed immune system but that a healthy young man like his dad would not.

The whole conversation makes me sad. Sad that his young, innocent life is quickly moving behind him. Each day he moves closer to adulthood is a day with new stresses and real life worries. Soon to be gone is the carefree, naive, wonderment that only exists in childhood.

It is timely that this conversation occurred 3 days before his 12th birthday, a birthday that should be significant for him but is also turning out to be quite significant to his mother. It is the first time that it really hit me that my little boy is really growing up and soon will be a man! WOW! What a "rock your world" type of feeling that is. My baby boy is really growing up.

And, I really like who he is becoming as he grows and matures. I cross my fingers that he keeps on the path that he is on because he is really poised to grow into remarkable man.

Happy 12th Birthday Drew -- I love you!

brrr.....

My kids are nuts. Yesterday I took them to school and they wore shorts and short sleeved shirts.....it was 38 degrees!

Today Drew came to his senses and wore a sweatshirt - maybe because it was 35 degrees. But he was still in shorts!

The other parents must think we are abusive.

Adding insult to injury

So it was not bad enough that I was down and out for 5 days recovering from shoulder surgery. On the 6th day, I came down with a nasty virus that made me feel like I had been run over by a truck. Fever, aches, chills, cold symptoms, etc. So now I have been down and out for over a week.

My shoulder is doing really well. Pain is minimal and I am getting some good range of motion.

Lucy

I think Lucy was happy when she stayed with us last weekend! There was no shortage of loving!

Recovery

Here is what I look like 2 days post-op. Doesn't look too bad! I am staying on the pain meds as prescribed. I don't want to let the pain get away from me. I am starting to move my arm a little bit. I swear that every hour it is getting better. Jim is an awesome nurse. But I wouldn't call him something sweet and kind like "Nurse Kitty" -- I would call him "Nurse Helga"! He shoots out orders! Actually the first nite I got really sick from the anesthesia and he slept on the floor in the family room so he could be close to me! He is a keeper!

update

surgery went well. no tears or repairs needed. just cleaned it out and shaved the bone. taking pain med and sleeping most of the time. jim is a great nurse and taking great care of me. kids are being really helpful too. dog knows something is wrong and stays close by.

On a leave of absence

I will be on a short leave of absence from my blog beginning tomorrow while I recover from surgery. Well wishes and positive thoughts are appreciated while I am recovering!

An odd allergy

Here is a funny story from my girlfriend Angie. It is about her daughter Peyton, who is in kindergarten. Here are the main players:

Peyton - 5 years old
Taylor - her friend, who is also five years old and coming to Peyton's house for a play date
Wilton - Peyton's 10 year old yellow lab

So last week Peyton told her teacher that Taylor was going to come to her house for a playdate but added that there is some concern because Taylor is allergic to Wilton's penis!

Remember, this is a 5 year old telling the story.

The real story is that Taylor is allergic to Wilton - a dog and PEANUTS! Not penis!

win pic

Here is a pic from the win (2nd place) this weekend.

I forgot to report that I got hit in the face with a ball at one of the soccer games this weekend. Right on the nose! OUCH!

Soccer tournament update

Drew's team came in second place in the tournament this weekend. They won all games but the last one. Drew played well - got a goal in each game except the last one - it was a shut out. All the kids were happy and went to celebrate afterwards at a pizza place!

Are all beagles alike?

This is my friend Jenn's dogs - a beagle and a yellow lab. Similar to Chad and Daisy Mae. And it is like a deja vu of Chad in Daisy's bed and Daisy being left to sleep in Chad's bed. Jenn's mom bought them each their new beds. The big striped one is for the lab.....the beagle had different ideas.

Skyhawks!

This is a great team pic from Drew's soccer team. It is from a game a few weeks ago but I liked the way they were going in for a cheer.

He has a soccer tournament this weekend so stay tuned for scores.

Also, for anyone interested, he plays hockey at the "tank" coming up. That is great fun to watch. If you are interested, let me know - it is free!

pre-op appt

I had my pre op appt yesterday and I am all set for shoulder surgery next Tuesday. Wish me luck!

alert!

So when I run really early in the morning, I try to be extra alert because it is DARK and SCARY! So I am on the look out for bad guys, cars rushing to work, coyotes, etc.

This morning, for the first time, I encountered something that actually stopped me in my tracks and made me leap backwards.

I know what you are thinking.... mountain lion, hooded bad guy, vicious pitbull..... NOPE!

It was a shoelace! But in the dark of morning, it looked like a snake and I was about to step right on it! My ever alert brain notified my body of potential imminent danger and I put on my brakes and leaped away. But the part of my brain that makes me react in an instant was ridiculed by the part of my brain that is logical... once I focused and realized it was a big bad shoelace!

At least I know I am ready for ANYTHING!

What a morning

Whoa!

This morning I was out front watering the flowers and I heard the great danes (there are 4 of them) across the street barking a weird bark. Only one of them is a barker but she usually only does a warning bark at a squirrel or some one walking by. But this was not her and the barks sounded weird - sort of like a fighting bark and an old dog bark and a worried bark.

So I run across the street and look over the fence. I can see two of the of the dogs and they are running around looking worried. The fighting barks sound like they are coming out of the house or the garage. I am yelling the dogs names to try to get them to stop the barking but no response.

So I run back home and call the owner, Butch, at work and tell him what is going on. Then I take my cell phone with me across the street so he can hear the barking. I was thinking that he would be able to tell if it was bad or not.

When I get back to his house, his next door neighbor, Stacy is hanging over her side of the fence and reporting that two of the dogs are "chewing on each other". I go running into her back yard and tell her to get the hose out and squirt them from her side of the fence. Then I start throwing stuff at the dogs (a bbq brush!). One had another one by the ear and was just pulling on it and then he had the other one on its back.

While Stacy squirts them, I run to another neighbors house to get a key to Butch's house. My plan is to go into the house and let one of the males into the house to separate them. Maybe....depending on how they were acting. Or I was going to send the neighbor with the key in! That neighbor was not home so I went running back.

At this point they had stopped "chewing on each other" and Butch was on his way home. I listened for the fighting until he got home. He said when he got home they were going at it again and he had to go out and kick them to break them up!

He immediately took the older dog to the vet. He was dripping with blood and had some major gashes and a chewed up ear.

He came home from the vet and cleaned up (there was a lot of blood) and then took the other one to the vet - he had puncture wounds.

This is my neighbor whose wife just died. I feel so bad for him.

The problem is that these are two males who have not been neutered and every once in a while, their pea sized dog brain thinks they are wild animals who have to compete for the love of the girlie dogs. They momentarily forget that they are pampered house dogs.

Butch has been looking for a home for the younger male so that he wouldn't have this problem but has not yet found one. When Judi was alive, she was with the dogs all day and kept them separated. But it is harder now with Butch having to go to work and no one being home.

After my dog rescue, I had to run back home and get on a conference call.....all in a days work!

Jolly Green Giant(s)

That time has finally arrived.... Drew is officially as tall as me! He is 5 feet 4 1/2 inches and is 3 weeks shy of being 12 years old. My little baby boy! I can remember when he was born and he weighed 6 pounds , 9 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long!

In the last 12 months, he has grown 2 inches and Gracie has grown 2 and 1/2 inches. No wonder they eat so much!

It is clear that they have their Dad's body types. No squatty bodies for them!

Grandpa Pete

My 94 year old Grandpa is in the hospital with pneumonia and an infection in his finger.

Apparently the two issues are not related.

He had cut his finger working in the garden months ago and it had been treated repeatedly but just would not heal. So it had become really infected. They cultured it in the hospital and have switched antibiotics. But they have him in isolation because of the the fear of it being an antibiotic resistant staph infection.

He also had a cold and a cough and was really lethargic so that is what got him to the hospital. Grandma Pat called my Aunt Maureen and they took him to the ER. He was diagnosed with "just a touch of pneumonia". They have him on oxygen, iv fluids and iv antibiotics and he seems to be doing better each day. I just talked to him and he sounds strong. And his wife, Grandma Pat, seems to have everything under control.

Hopefully he will be released tomorrow and will be well enough to take a bus trip to the Indian Casinos really soon!

At the cabin

We had a great weekend at the cabin. We did some fishing, hiking, taking walks, playing games and resting. I taught Gracie how to play Scrabble. She is in this picture playing with Grandma Kathy and Tina. The rest of us at the table were playing spoons, the ridiculous game with no strategy or skill -- just plain old violence!

We kicked off the xmas season by going to see the Christmas parade in a local small town!

Thanksgiving Fort

If If am ever stuck out in the woods without shelter, I will have Drew build me something to live in and I will be safe from inclement weather and wildlife. Check out the fort he and Gracie built up at the cabin this weekend. The dog loved it as she ran around fetching sticks and chewing them up!

Thanksgiving in California

I wish I had pics so you could see what we were doing today in California the day after Thanksgiving....We were out in the boat fishing and Gracie was in a bikini! It was a warm sunny day. Not warm enough for a bathing suit for me but Gracie thought it was and kept wanting to jump in to swim.

Of course Daisy Mae did some swimming and came home, curled up and snored! A great dog life.

Speaking of Daisy Mae, I am considering a side business -- renting out my dog to hunters who want a dog to fetch their ducks. In the last month, I have had multiple requests for her to go out with them. The thing is, she would happily fetch ducks if I was there but without me there, she would be a nervous wreck! And there is NO WAY I am going duck hunting. So I guess I need a different side business.

Crab for Thanksgiving

Jim and Drew went out crabbing yesterday so that we would have fresh crab for Thanksgiving. This is a pic of them cleaning the crabs. And that is Betty eating fresh crab gills! NASTY! Raw crab gills - she LOVES them.

Thanksgiving Table

Gracie helped me set the Thanksgiving table. We are having Jim's folks, my folks and a friend of Anna's. We are in charge of pies, potatoes, appetizers and drinks. I have some yummy appetizers planned:

• asiago cheese dip (warm) served with french bread
• avocado and yogurt dip with cumin served with pita chips, carrots and jicama
• mushrooms stuffed with panko bread crumbs and a garlic paste made from two heads of garlic and whipping cream

Jim is doing pumpkin pie and apple/cranberry pie! I am waiting all day for the apple cranberry pie!

I really wanted to do a local run this morning called the "Turkey Trot". It is a 5k run and all the money goes to local charities. I wanted our whole family to do it. But we could not get it together to register, Jim had no running shoes and Drew wanted to sleep in today....so Daisy and I went on our own 5k Turkey Trot thru the neighborhood. I thought it was appropriate that I heard the wild turkeys gobbling in the hills!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Twas the night of Thanksgiving, and I just couldn't sleep
so I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.

The leftovers beckoned--the dark meat and white
but I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with great anticipation,
the thought of a snack became a huge infatuation.

So, I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door
and gazed at the fridge, filled with goodies galore'.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
then pickles and carrots, and beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
'till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.

I crashed through the ceiling, and floated into the sky
with a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.

But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees.
Happy eating to all--pass the cranberries, please.

May your stuffing be tasty, may your turkey be plump
May your potatoes 'n gravy have nary a lump.

May your yams be delicious, may our pies take the prize
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off of your thighs.

Taco Salad Dressing

This is a new recipe we just tried for taco salad dressing and it was really yummy!

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Is it snowing???

My brother's family spent the weekend at the cabin with some friends. Sam thought it was snowing this morning.....but it turned out to be toilet paper coming out of the septic tank!!!! Time to call the turdinator - we have a septic emergency!!!!

Chubby

The dog seems to be losing weight on the new routine of no snackies! However, she is also starving all the time! Jim broke down and gave her part of his left over lunch today! BUSTED! You can see where the weakest link is!

Spring Break

We have decided to go to Washington DC for spring break. We will stay with Jim's Aunt and Uncle and do the whole Washington DC tourist routine. We are all really excited about it.

We decided to fly out one day early and stay a night in Baltimore MD to check out the harbor.

Should be fun!

Soccer Update

Gracie's last game of the season was yesterday and they won! She is going to play basketball for the winter season so it will be another year before she plays anymore soccer.

Drew's team had their end of the season tournament and won the whole thing! They had two shut outs out of 4 games! They really played great and better than that, they totally bonded as a team.

Drew's coach has decided to coach competitive soccer, so Drew and many of the other boys will stay with him. We are thrilled because this coach and his two assistant coaches are outstanding! They are three young men who coach because they had some bad experiences with bad coaches growing up and they want to prevent that from happening to other kids. They are in their mid 20's and work fulltime in high tech. The coach's mom teaches elementary school at a local school - she is known for her positive attitude in the classroom and she passed that on to her son. They are amazing role models for the boys and are so enthusiastic. The boys are truly thriving under their leadership! We could not be happier.

Book Review

I just finished the book A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. It is a story about two women living in Afghanastan in the last 30 years. And I use the word "living" loosely. It is certainly no where close to the term we mean when we say "living". These women struggled every day of their lives. They struggled with things we know nothing about: domestic violence, suppression of women and girls and lack of the basics (food, running water, medical care).

It is a quick read and well worth the time investment.

It seems timely that I read it right before Thanksgiving so that I can give extra thought to how much I am thankful for....

Busy Week

My fans are getting restless and calling me to tell me I am not blogging! I KNOW I am not blogging....I am too busy this week to do anything fun!

My two buddies from my former employer started working with me at my new employer this week! So I have been busy trying to bring them up to speed while also trying to keep up with work.

And in addition, in the "I can't believe they pay me for this" chapter, I have more content to add....

This was the week of our global legal retreat for 216 legal employees from around the world. It was suppose to be held at a hotel on the coast starting on Thursday morning at 9 am. On Wednesday at noon the hotel called us and told us that the hotel had an ecoli outbreak (also known as 80 of the guests had vomiting and the runs!). We put the brakes on the retreat and frantically tried to find another location. On Weds at 4 pm we found a local hotel that could accomodate a crowd that big and by 9 am the next morning we were all there eating breakfast.

Then later in the day, we had buses pick us up and take us to a local park for an Olympic Team Building event, which was a hoot! We had about 10 people on each team and competed in 6 different events:

• jigsaw puzzle building
• matching flags of 30 countries to the correct country
• amoeba race
• building a pipe and moving water thru it to fill up a bucket
• chaos - a volleyball game with three teams and three balls at the same time
• a race moving people across a field while not touch grass and using 2 foam mats and a log to stand on

Our team did either very well or very poorly in each event. We won two medals: one for the amoeba race and one for the field race. However, we never could complete the puzzle - we had two pieces left and couldn't figure out where they went!!!! Bunch of morons with advanced degrees!

Later that nite we did line dancing! There must have been 75 people out on the dance floor being taught different line dances by an older cowgirl with a bad outfit and bad hair!

It was all great fun and again I had to ask myself....they pay me to work here?

Marty Monkey

This is Gracie's new stuffed monkey appropriately named "Marty". This morning before she left for school, I got a full briefing on what I needed to do to care for her monkey while she was gone. And I was specifically told that if she came home and he was in the same place she left him in the morning, that I would be in BIG trouble.

So to ensure I did not get in trouble, again today, (read vet post below) I took pics of Marty's antics during the day.

Doing the Right Thing

I try so hard to do the right thing all the time. Whether it is with my kids, my job, strangers, etc. It is just the compass that I use to live my life...

I even try to do it with my dog! Remember how I made her dog food during the dog food recall? And remember how I get up at the crack of dawn just about everyday to take her out running? Well......I am not doing a good enough job with my dog and I am mortified!

I took her to the vet this morning to get a check up and get shots. What I got was a 5 minute lecture about how fat my dog is!!!! She weighs 80 pound and the vet wants her at about 75. She obviously gets enough exercise with all the running, walking and swimming she does. The problem is that she is taking in too many calories. I can even name the calories:

• 2 batches of banana muffins she ate off the counter, in one week
• a sandwich she ate off the counter
• leftovers from dinner
• leftovers from breakfast
• dog biscuits while playing hide and seek

So......we are turning over a new leaf! No more snackies for the dog! She is going to get weight reduction dog food.

And next time, Jim is taking her to the vet!

Surgery Date

Just in case you have not heard, I am going under the knife on Dec 4! It will be arthroscopic surgery on my shoulder to try to eliminate the pain I have been feeling for FIVE years! They are going to shave the bottom of the bone and remove the bursa. They will also look for tears and clean up the calsification. Healing will take 3 months but then I should be as good as new. The weird thing is that I have been living with this so long that I don't know what "new" will feel like.

In the meantime, I have been doing physical therapy in an effort to be as prepared as possible for the rehab. Doing the physical therapy leaves me in constant pain. I am hoping the pain will be less and less after the surgery.

Wish me luck!

It has been a long time....

since I have had an early morning, gym fashion disaster....but I guess it is time.

This morning I went to the gym, did the whole workout thing ( 6 miles on the precor :-)). And when I went to get ready for the day, I had one catastrophe after another:

• I am wearing black cords that are too tight and feel like they are strangling me!
• I have a black tshirt on that looks too big and like I got into a fight with a giant deodorant while putting it on.
• I went to put on my denim jacket to hide the tight pants and the deodorant covered/ too big shirt and found that the dog must have been using my jacket as a pillow for the last week - I now had yellow dog hair all over my black clothes!
• After blow drying my hair, it looked like straw in the Sahara Desert.

So, if you see me today, it would not be a good day to comment on my appearance.....I am feeling a little out of sorts!

Morning Run

This morning while we were out, we saw FOUR coyotes! They were in a field against the foothills about a 1/4 mile from the house. It is an area I had been avoiding before the time changed because it was so dark. But since the time changed, I went back to that route today. Now I know I was avoiding it for good cause.

They were about 60 feet from me and showed no fear. It looked like they were eating something. Freaky!

New Furniture, Part 2

I have continued to gather furniture for the family room. Latest in my quest was the coffee table and console table. Drew and I put the coffee table together this morning and quickly found that we had to rearrange the room if we were going to be able to use the coffee table. So this is the result. That trunk under the window is going back. It is not well made and doesn't fit into the room the way we have it set up now.

I am still waiting for an ottoman for the red chair and a drapery rod for the window.

Halloween Chicken

How funny is this! Makes me realize that there are crazier people than me out there!

Science Camp

Drew was a "chatty cathy" telling us about science camp last nite.

He really had a great time. His favorite part was the nite hike. He said the food was pretty good: they had tacos, pizza, chicken, spaghetti and corn dogs - total kid food.

He barely felt the earthquake - he said he was inside the dining room in a chair and it just rolled a little bit.

He came home really tired as they were busy from 6:50 am to 9:30 pm everyday.

I think it was a great grown experience for him - he actually said he missed all of us!

Science Camp Update

Drew has had the best science camps of all time:

Monday - Thunder & Lightening
Tuesday - Earthquake
Wednesday - A classmate broke her arm (which has never happened in the history of science camp at this school)
Thursday - ??? we haven't heard of any drama yet

He comes home today at noon, so I am sure we will get a complete run down! Stay tuned!