Brains are weird.

Sooo, I'm thinking about picking up on the blogging again.  Not that anyone out there has been breathlessly awaiting my next submission.  Although I still get a wee little bit of traffic, mostly to the "origins" post for some reason.  And, it's not like much has really changed here on the homestead...still pretty much kids, bad weather, and my crabby observations about people and things.  Strangely, it is cathartic and therapeutic to journal knowing that strangers are reading about my life, especially since I'm pretty much a practically agoraphobic, want-to-be hermit.  Brains are weird.

8 months and counting.

From yesterday, 8 months and I will be 50 years old.  Someone famously said that life begins at 50, or something like that.  Easy to say when you are 50, but you know when someone says "if you could be any age right now, what would it be?" NO ONE says 50.  Most everybody says 30, I would be 32 which is when I felt the most comfortable in my skin. 

I'm officially starting to struggle with the concept of being 50, not because I feel old, but because I feel young.  Too young to have that awful number assigned to me.  Too young to feel like it's getting too late to have a goal, find my passion, and believe that the best is yet to come.  Is it?  Really?  I'm kind of doubtful but not completely without hope.  One positive thing about being "older" is that I have a better handle on perspective.  I can acknowledge that being older has it's perks, one of which is not that I will have that body I have always dreamed of, that ship sailed a long while ago.  But that for every wonderful, positive, beautiful thing about being 25, there is an equally wonderful, positive, and beautiful thing about being 50 and beyond.  Just in a different way.  So in honor of being one third of the way through my 50th year (49 and holding) I will commence to write a list of lovely things about being old over 50.  ahem...

1.  No more babies.  Wait, that is a terrible thing, I love babies and I wish I could have had more, I miss being pregnant, nursing, smelling and kissing sweet little baby heads.  Ack.  This isn't starting out well. 

2. No more periods.  Wait, I have not reached this point yet.  I'm in the anemic, light-headed, homicidal PMS stage of life where I feel like I'm menstruating more than I am not.  When I'm not menstruating, I'm usually worrying about when I will be again and where I will be when I discover it.

3.  Children raised.  This one really actually makes me laugh so hard I may pee my pants (another lovely thing about being mature).  I currently have 4 children living under my roof, one is 25 and another is 22.  I still have one in high school and I also have an 11 year old.  So, yeah.

4.  Body acceptance..........Um, nope.

Okay, so I really actually intended to compose a list of positive things but I have quickly discovered that 50 is just a number.  It means practically nothing.  I am in no way at a point in my life where being 50 is a positive thing.  I'm just an older, peri-menopausal, kinda squishy, mom.

I think I will wait 5 years or so and try this again. 

Now I Remember.

For the last couple years I have become so disenchanted with politics, I used to be a rabid politic junkie.  Remember "George" magazine?  I had a subscription.  I couldn't wait to get my monthly copy and read amazing columns by Paul Begala, Al Franken, and yes, even Ann Coulter.  Remember the insane covers...Cindy Crawford dressed as George Washington?  Drew Barrymore dressed as Marilyn Monroe?  George Clooney dressed as Thomas Jefferson?  John Kennedy Jr. was a co-creator, they created a magazine that made politics hip, sexy, funny, and relevant.  It addressed domestic and foreign issues in a way that was comprehendable and even entertaining.  It was the adult version of Tiger Beat magazine for me.  In 1997 I even took a trip to Washington D.C. with my best friend, we sought out restaurants where senators and congressman were known to hang out...because we were obsessed and excited about everything political.  We were informed.

I cried the night George W. Bush was elected president the first time.  I was terrified for my children and for our country.  I knew this meant we would be going to war and I could hardly bear the thought of our young men fighting a battle that wasn't ours.  I knew he would blow the budget off the charts with his tax cuts and insane military spending. Of course, no one could foresee 9/11, but I could feel that we were in a lot of trouble.  By his second term election I didn't care anymore.  I was tired, beat down and disillusioned.  I wondered why there were people in this country who would vote for this man... again!  I didn't much like half this country and could not stand to talk politics with anyone as it always turned vitriolic, awkward.

I voted for Hilary Clinton in the 2008 primary, I still believe she would be an amazing President and I hope she chooses to run in 2016.  She has been a brilliant Secretary of State.

I voted for Barack Obama, I was excited and definitely hopeful.  I became a little disillusioned about halfway in.  I wanted our troops to come home.  I wanted my house to be worth more than I paid for it.  I was impatient.  I knew that this was a mess left by our former president, I knew it was a big, stinkin' mess, but I wanted it to go away...Now.   I was naive and idealistic.  President Clinton helped me with that last night.  Cleaning up messes is a lot harder than making them, it takes time and cooperation to get it done quickly.  Unfortunately President Obama was bound by a republican agenda to make sure he was a one term president, they seemed not to care about what was best for the country but what was best for their party.  Heartbreaking.

My zeal, passion, excitement for politics is back in a big way.  I remember why I loved President Clinton, I remembered what I know we can accomplish, I remembered why I love being a democrat.  I remembered that I still have hope. 
 

I'm Alive.

I'm back, did you miss me?  Nothing has changed, for the worse or the better.  Which is good, I guess.  I'm not sure how many kids lived with us a year ago, but now the number is 4.  One 24 year old who pays rent, one 22 year old who not only doesn't pay rent, work, or help out in any way shape or for.  He also snatches any cash that an unfortunate person might leave laying around the house, which is apparently how he makes his living.  He is going to school, that's a plus.  Liv is still at school, Jack and Grace are still going at it and Jack's hormones are still raging.  We still have the dog and the cat, the fish died and we replaced it with a guinea pig, which is a really gross little thing I have to say.  Like a chubby, tail-less rat.  If you're on the fence, I'd recommend you not get one.

June in Seattle is still gawd-awful.  Schools out on Friday the 22nd and we are heading to Boise and then back down to Utah to visit Gramma and Grampa in Arches for the 4th of July.  Yay!  I can't wait to get out of Mossville USA and smell those Russian Oaks.

I wish I could bring all the kids (jk) but it looks like it might just be Grace and Jack.  Even Jack is iffy - he hates car rides and we hate him on car rides as well.  So yeah.

Christmas in July

I haven't really talked about the weather in an out and out 'talking about the weather' kind of way for a while, so I'm going to talk about the weather in this here, short little post.

Disclaimer:  I am FULLY aware that the rest of the country is experiencing sweltering, unbearable, and evenly deadly heat.  I feel awful for them and hope it passes soon.

I, on the other hand, am experiencing the coldest, grayest summer of my life.  Granted, I lived in Southern California for the first 18 years of said life, and summers there are pretty fabulous as a rule.  But, as long as I've lived in the Pacific Northwest the summers have been pretty good.  Occasional rainy periods but always long bouts of sun with temps exceeding 80 degrees for extended periods of time.  Perfect really.  This summer on the other hand, went AWOL.  I'm freezing most of the time.  I have a space heater aimed at myself every morning and evening.  Yesterday it was 83 degrees, the pool was filled and we spent the whole day on the deck basking in what would be a fluke, cuz we are back to the northwest gloom today.  I awoke to booms of thunder and gray skies.  Ack.  It's killing me.  I have SAD (seasonal affective disorder) so I NEED the summer more than anyone else in the whole entire world.  I wait and wait, I anticipate the sun's glorious rays shooing away the darkness in my head.  Not good.  I can't wait to get out of this God-forsaken place in August and head towards warmth, desert, dryness.   If things don't improve soon around here I'm just going to get the Halloween decorations out and call it a lost cause.  Ho-ho-ho.

With my mouth still hanging open...

One of my children, who shall remain nameless because he would kill me if I named him, is about to enter high school.  He is also about to enter puberty, he's a late bloomer.  Anyone who has children of both genders knows that both boys and girls become hormonal messes at this stage in life.  Girls get the bad rap for going crazy during puberty, and again later in life when going through peri and full on menopause.  But, you know what, that's crap.  I have two boys and three girls and I can tell you, my boys cried more and had more breakdowns during this time that all my girls combined.  My friends with boys can attest to this fact. Is this supposed to be some unspoken secret?

Last night I thought I had planned a lovely little summer night outing here in the Arctic Seattle.  We walked down to our local outdoor mall to watch a concert and grab dinner.  This is apparently where things started to go terribly wrong, although I'm not sure why.  First he sits there sullenly with his fingers in his ears because he doesn't approve of the music, I say "hey, why don't you two go into the Apple store and look around while we have a drink and enjoy the music for a while."  Great idea, they head in.  I did not have my cell with me but Mike did.  The "unnamed one" apparently tried calling a million times (twice) but Mike didn't pick up (loud music, duh).  Keep in mind that we never left the place we last saw them, still sitting in the same place and able to see the Apple store from where we are.  Here they come, one looking adorable and perky, the other looking like what I imagine the Menendez brothers looked like just before they murdered their parents.  Really?  Soooo, then I say "let's go get dinner, where do you want to go?"  Grace says buoyantly "Blue C Sushi", I say to the "unnamed one" where would you like to go "unnamed one"?  "I don't care" is the response, still looking like he was born to Satan incarnate.  "Okay, sushi it is"...oops, wrong again.  He sat at the booth glaring at the food as it passed him on the conveyor belt and then occasionally glanced at Satan accusingly.  I say "You know what, it looks like you aren't happy with our choice, we pass McDonald's on the way home, we'll just stop in and get you a burger".  I'm so incredibly nice I can't stand myself.  (I'm tired of using quote marks so I'm going to stop that now)  I bet you can guess what happens next.  We go into McDonald's and the unnamed one isn't hungry, but he's still really mad, about what I'm still not sure.  I'm loosing my cool now and saying some of those evil motherly things that occasionally come from my mouth.    I won't repeat.  Then he says to me that I'm one more word away from him going to live with his father.  Oh, and he isn't going on the road trip with us next month.  Seriously.  Then he runs ahead, over the hill toward home.  It's now dark and I'm pretty sure he is going to pretend that he ran away or something, he'll be hiding somewhere just to teach me a lesson.  As usual, I am correct. He's no where.  I've been a mother for quite some time so I know that the manual states that I am to pretend I'm not concerned.  Turn on the TV and kick back like I don't care. I did that and he did slink in about 15 minutes later, not even a mean looking glance was cast my direction, up the stairs he went and he hasn't spoken to me since.

What the freak just happened?

I ate.

And ate, and ate some more...and gained back the 3 lbs. I lost from my green cleanse.  Oh well.  I'm going back to a low carb diet, which seems to really be the only thing that has ever worked for me.  I've been carrying around this extra 15 pounds for a few years now and I have to either accept and love it, or get rid of it.  Actually, I'm not sure I can ever love it but maybe acceptance?

I toy with the idea of having a surgery to get rid of the part of me that I really hate the most.  My husband really likes this part of me, but I've never been comfortable being a "chesty" girl and I think that if I was better proportioned I would better be able to live with the weight my body wants to be.  One of these days I will make an appointment for a consultation but I'm not quite ready yet.  I'm pretty sure that I wouldn't qualify for an insurance covered procedure, unfortunately.  I do know that I don't want to live the rest of my life struggling to find clothes that fit right or are comfortable and I would love to walk down the street not feeling as though I'm being checked out by every male (and female) that passes by.  I'm sure it's mostly in my head because I'm so self-conscious about it.  Still, it feels real to me.

We have decided on our next road trip, Silverwood and then a loop through Yellowstone.  Silverwood for the kids and Yellowstone for me.  I know they'll love it when they get there, I can't wait!  I've never been and it's been on my list for years.  Mike has a business trip in Wyoming so it works out well.  I wish we had the time and money to head down to Utah as well, maybe it will work out. 

I did it! Now what?

So I actually made it through the three days without eating any solid food except a bit of watermelon.  And, I actually had a huge burst of energy yesterday, which I am still feeling this morning.  That might be the fact that I'm drinking strong coffee on a very empty stomach, but whatever.  I had very little hunger, a little weakness here and there, but otherwise it was a piece of cake. 

I didn't clean out my system (if you know what I mean) as I'd hoped but I'm optimistic for today.  Now the problem is I don't know what the heck to do.  Should I eat?  What should I eat?  And, guess what, I don't even want to eat!  I'm going to finish off my Naked Green Machine today before foraying into solid food and then I'm just not sure.  Maybe I have acquired one of those eating disorders like I prayed for when I was a teenager.  Just a month of anorexia, that's all I ask! was my fervent prayer. 

I'm taking Gracie out for a haircut today, gonna clean out the trailer (note to self:  get tabs), and obsess about what my first solid meal in four days might consist of.  Mike is on his way back from Canada, and the sun is actually shining in Seattle...pretty much, hallejulah!

Day Two

I did it, I made it through day one of my green juice fast/cleanse.  I wasn't even hungry, which is so weird because I am always hungry.  No exaggeration. I think that stuff is thick enough and full of so much veggies and fiber that it just hangs around in there awhile.  Anyhoo, day two, I'm at work today so I'm hoping my stomach won't make scary growling noises and embarrass me.  Lost two pounds overnight, I'm not stupid, I do know that it's not "real" fat, but I don't care cuz it's the bloat I'm gunning for this time. 

I finished off the big bottle of Odwalla this morning, Liv absconded with a glass yesterday so I didn't actually drink the whole bottle myself.  I'm going to grab a Naked in the cafeteria today (can't wait to see how much that little bottle will run me down there) and start the second large bottle from home after work.  Since Mike's out of town this week it's been easier than it would have been otherwise.  The little guys are happy with whatever I put in front of them for dinner so last night they had a box of Annie's Mac and Cheese and pigs in a blanket with li'l smokies and crescent rolls.  Gross right?  At least I had absolutely no desire to eat it, although I almost shoves a spoonful of mac into my mouth before I remembered.  It would have been really sad to ruin an almost complete fasting/cleansing day with a mouthful of boxed mac and cheese.

Today...

Jack had a dental appointment and he said it "hurt sooooooo bad".  He's still not done with the dental work from his BMX accident, which was two years ago tomorrow.

That was one of those days I want a do-over on.  I would change that day by saying "No, Jack, you may not go to the skate park and knock your front tooth out and chip most of the other permanent teeth in the front of your mouth and then have expensive and painful dental procedures done for the next 5 years."  That is verbatim what I would say.

Then we came home and made 5 half pints of the bestest blueberry jam I have ever had.  No lie.  I was not aware I was an awesome canner until just this month.  I canned 8 jars of super delicious strawberry jam a couple weeks ago and now I am obsessed with thinking about some delicious combinations of fruits to make into jam.  Strawberry rhubarb is next, which I obviously did not think up myself.

Speaking of food, I started a three day green juice cleanse fast today.  So far I'm not hungry, although I did augment with a bit of watermelon.  I do not have a juicer and didn't really want to invest in a piece of kitchen equipment I may never use again.  So I'm using Naked Truth Green Machine and Odwalla Original Superfood.  They are so much better tasting than they look.  They would have to be because they look like algae sludge.  They are thick enough to make me feel not starving, so that's good.  I've been gastronomically BAD for a while now, I'm hoping to knock off a bit of the bloat before heading to Cannon Beach next week.  We are staying at the RV Resort for the week of the Fourth.  I'm excited...the weather is supposed to be lovely so I'll keep my fingers crossed.  I love Cannon Beach, literally, I Love Cannon Beach.  It's enough like a California Beach to make me feel a little bit homesick.  Yay for vacations!

Curiosities

Camping was okay.  The weather wasn't awful, it was fine.  The kids got along okay, not great, just fine.  I didn't do a great job planning meals, we didn't have a lot of money to work with and payday wasn't supposed to be until the day after we got home.  I wanted to make sure we had money left over for any emergencies so I got some real cheezy food.  Lot of hot dogs, top ramen salad, chips. Now I'm a little fatter than when I was last Friday.  We stopped at the Heidleburger on the way out of Leavenworth and chowed down on their amazing cheeseburgers and onion rings on the drive home.  Best meal of the weekend.  I was a lot unhappy when I got on the scale this morning.  Why won't those numbers ever just go down instead of up?

For some reason Mike always chooses to pick a fight with me when we are on a road trip.  I'm sure it has something to do with a captive audience, and the fact that I tend to storm off when I'm just done with the conversation.  It's hard to storm off when you are in a car going 65 mph.  So, the trip started off less than peaceful.  We got over it and moved on. 

We did climb a mountain.  Just steep and high enough to be exciting for the kids and not cause me to have a heart attack on account of my pesky fear of heights.  We walked a lot, mostly since Elke refuses to poop anywhere near our campsite, which is nice of her but it's also annoying watching her pace around waiting for someone to walk her to the pooping hill.  With all the gross people leftovers she eats while we are camping she becomes a very prolific pooper.

I'm looking forward to our next trip.  Hopefully it will be a warmer, sunnier time and place.  I'll be more creative with the camping food so I don't end up with a nasty food hangover.

I did read a great book on my Kindle, it's called In Zanesville, and is the story of a girl with a dysfunctional family growing up in the 70's.   Sound familiar? 

Update!

     It's been a while.  This blog was created to keep in touch with Liv while away at school but it morphed into a way for me to be a little creative in my mostly uncreative life.  It became a little cathartic, and I say "little" because there's really only so much you can say when you know people who know you, are reading.  My husband stumbled upon it one day and was concerned that he came across as a bumbling dork.  For that I am sorry, I just report.

     Liv has been home so much, the 1.5 hour drive isn't enough to keep her away her my awesome mothering, that I haven't needed to keep her updated on our doings.

     Liv ended  up at Western and is in fact finishing up her quarter next week.  She'll be home, back to the basement bedroom for a few months and has procured a position with the "City" as a fire hydrant painter for the summer. 

     Sam moved back home in January, down to the basement as well.  She broke up with that guy, and is a very happy, single, working 23 year-old.  I'm happy to have her back, in every way.

     Other than that, I really don't have much to report.  We are hoping for some positive changes next month, which I am not at liberty to discuss until such changes occur, which they better.  So send positive energy our direction. 

     I anxiously await a weather change, Seattle has been mired in rain and clouds all year.  We finally hit 70 degrees last week.  Seriously, end of May.  My mood is bad, I'm usually feeling a happy bump in my brain by now but this daily darkness is not working for me.  I fantasize about moving to a sunnier clime on a daily basis, but my large brood of children keep me grounded in the realization that being away from any of them for any amount of time would counter the effects of sunshine in my eyes. 

     Camping season will commence this weekend with our annual trip to Leavenworth.  I give that a sincere yahoo!  Finally!!

Not too bad...

Um, Liv, if you're reading this, I have some bad news.  We suffered a slight bit of flooding this weekend due to the aforementioned blog entry entitled "Aloha".  We lost about 1/4 of the carpet in Liv's room, luckily I put in the stick down squares so we were able to just pull up the wet ones and can replace them with new ones.  I did not panic or freak out, you would have been so proud of me.  I was very zen about it, especially after watching the news on Sunday and realizing that we got away with very little damage compared to so many other people.  The rain was freaky though, it never stopped all night, most of the rivers here in the great northwest jumped their banks and lots of people lost everything.  Mike and I were out in the midst of it checking gutters and putting down tarps around the house.  We had to end up stapling a big blue tarp to the south side of the house and sloping it down like a tent to direct the water away from the foundation, so far so good.

We stayed hunkered down for the weekend and watched the rain come down in sheets.  It was cozy.  Grace and I have almost managed to beat Donkey Kong Country Returns but that last boss is a real beezy.  We watched a lot of TV, cleaned house, read, and cooked...my ideal weekend, I never got out of my sweats, I even slept in them.  Ahh.  I even finished wrapping all the presents I have bought so far, that's a big deal as I'm usually up until 3:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve finishing up.  Not this year!

Picking up Liv tomorrow night at 7:00 and then Sam is off to visit Kourtnie and Trevor in El Paso on Wednesday morning, she'll be gone for a week and is sooo excited, it's Trevor's 2nd birthday already.  Crazy.

Aloha!

This blog has become some sort of depressing weather report lately.  Saying that I will go on to mention that we are battening down the hatches for some record breaking rain heading our way, one of our famous Pineapple Expresses.  Sounds so tropical and it is, kind of, it's a stream of rain and warm air caught in a system trough coming from Hawaii and heading towards us, we could get a couple inches of rain.  So Mike is at Home Depot getting some gutter extensions to lead the water away from the house, he added and adjusted tarps to our leaky roof areas and cleaned out the leaf-filled gutters.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we are prepared enough and won't have to deal with anymore water issues here at the homestead.  Liv is arriving on Tuesday evening, hopefully not to another "weather event".

One more week until Christmas Winter Break,  I'm almost done shopping now, awaiting a couple more packages by FedEx.  I will have to brave the elements and my mental state to do some actual shopping to finish up.  I've assigned Mike some tasks, like picking up gifts for his littlest nephews and taking care of Brynn's gifts.  We decided not to buy gifts for each other this year but that always bites me in the butt, so I have been grilling the kids about whether or not Mike is getting me a gift, just in case.  So far they say they "don't know anything" but they are terrible liars and I'm concerned. 

We watched "Eat, Pray, Love" last night, so good and such beautiful scenery.  It was between that and Twilight Eclipse, I figured I'd give Mike and break and chose the chick flick over the tween drama, that poor man.  Anyway, I'm going to grab my couch blanket, a cup of mocha, and watch Eclipse while the Pineapple Express has it's way with us.

Bah Humbug AGAIN

As if my life isn't filled with enough anxiety and depression, cuz that's pretty much my constant state of being from mid October through April, with little sprinkles here and there the rest of the year, my effing roof is leaking again!!!  Flat roof over the bedroom, which we FIXED already, starting leaking again during another torrential Seattle rainstorm last night.  Luckily my hero, Drew, showed up at exactly the right moment, forget that he actually showed up for leftover chili, and saved my ass.  This is a new leak, where the flat roof and the slanted roof meet.  Drew climbed up in the downpour, in the pure darkness, and threw a tarp over the leaky part and stopped the stream of water landing in the center of my bed, on my newish Pottery Barn comforter non-the-less.  It seemed to work, although in order to stop the leak I had to remove the tarp from the other flat roof, over the kitchen, which started leaking on Thanksgiving day.  It's a small leak so I found an old ski jacket one of the kids left in the storage room and crammed it around the stove vent, the source of the leak in the kitchen, and so far so good.  I come from pioneer stock.  In case you are wondering, Mike is out of town, another one of those "Mike coincidences" that pop up so frequently.

Crazy weather has been predicted for the northwest this year and we have not been disappointed.  This morning it rained harder than I have ever seen it rain at my house.  Thunder and lightning, it was like nighttime at 8:00 this morning when I took Jack to school.  I actually like dramatic weather so I'm pretend complaining about that, except when the dramatic weather falls on my super adorable comforter.

Like I've inferred above, my anxiety is over the top right now, I'm trying to finish up my Christmas shopping on a shoestring budget, I'm almost done but my seasonal affective disorder is not allowing me even go near a crowd of any sort.  Luckily our closest shopping center is an outdoor mall, which helps as I'm not forced to get too close to other humans.  Blech.  I've even managed to avoid the Center's annual Holiday Party, which features a chocolate fountain, my worst nightmare.  Seriously, so gross.

I tried to cheer myself up the other night by watching a late movie (anxious sleeplessness), FYI...don't watch "The Lovely Bones" when you are depressed.  Derr.

Bah Humbug

Seattle did finally thaw out.  It's been a beautiful sunny, cold weekend and yesterday was a perfect day to head to the tree farm for our annual Christmas tree hunt.  We found a lovely one, had some hot chocolate and headed back to the homestead for some decoratin'. 



Live Tree



Dead, but lovely, tree.



Grace and I decided to have a little sleepover down in Liv's room to check it out.  She is correct in stating that her bed is very comfy and I slept like a log.  I thought it might be a little creepy in the basement but it really wasn't, it was cozy and warm and the big window is so pretty in the morning.  Only 8 more days until Liv is home again.

Our day started out a little scary, Elke got out of the yard yesterday morning and we didn't find her for 3 hours.  She has been getting out and I warned Mike not to let her out unattended until he fixed the fence.  I awoke to hear him calling her and knew immediately that he probably hadn't heard me (again) and hoped that he hadn't removed her collar like he usually does (she jingles and wakes us up in the morning).  Unfortunately, he had...insert signing sound.   I was trying not to imagine her lifeless body lying in the road and what that would do to my children.  Turns out a good Samaritan found her and took her to the vet to scan her microchip.  I was introduced to a NE Seattle Moms group page and was so grateful to find that this network of mom's led Elke right back to our door, neighbors I don't even know.  It was heartening to see that our neighborhood is a lot more neighborly than I knew.  Today Mike is fixing the fence, it's only taken him five years and a giant scare but he is getting it done.

I'm immersed in Christmas shopping and taking my Ativan so that I can sleep through the stress of it all, and trying not to gain my usually holiday 5 pounds...I think it might be too late for that. 

We are all trying to recover from nasty colds, me, Liv, Sam, Jack and Drew all got walloped but I think the worst is over.  Back to the grind, I can't wait for January so I can start my official countdown to May and camping season.  I don't have a good attitude about January, February, March, or April.

Brrrr!

It's a winter wonderland in Seattle.  Snow has been falling all day and its butt-cold.  Presently 27 degrees here at our house.  I'm not a fan of the cold and this house doesn't do real cold well.  I'm pretty sure it's not at all insulated, from what we saw when we did our kitchen remodel a couple years ago, which was just a wall you could peek through behind the old drywall.  We have radiant heat as well, which is a lovely heat when its 45 degrees out but a weak, weenie, pathetic heat when it's 25.  I've been a terror about making sure we are hermetically sealed, every exterior door has a towel jammed in the thresh hold, curtains are all closed as soon as the sun isn't shining into the window.  We are burning logs, using space heaters, and bundling up under blankets on the couch. 

The great news is that I'm picking Liv up at the airport tomorrow for Thanksgiving break and she was just talking about how much she missed the seasons...ta da, have some winter.  It's not supposed to get much warmer than the mid twenties tomorrow with "bitter wind chills" so all of this will be one giant sheet of that famous Seattle ice.  Viva La Nina!   I'm not sure how I'll actually get to the airport, but I'm gonna do my best cuz I can't wait to see my girl.  Her room turned out so cute and cozy. 

Thanksgiving is at our house again this year and I still haven't got my turkey, I've been busy!  Mom and Steve are coming over and I can't wait to have all my kids together for dinner again.  I also can't wait for a heaping helping of my amazingly delicious stuffing, if I don't say so myself. 

Wine Cellar?

Spent the day painting the downstairs basement bedroom.  I'll post before and after pictures when it's done.  Liv will be down there for at least three months and then...it's mine.  I've had an extra bedroom at my disposal before.  Way back when Samantha was a baby and we lived in a three bedroom house.  I used it as my sewing and ironing room, back in the day when I made sofa pillows covered with geese-adorned and gingham fabric and always made all of Sam's dresses.  Now, I'll use it as an extra room for when Darcy or Olivia comes home and a place to sleep when Mike's snoring drives me out...which is getting more frequent as he gets older and I get grouchier.  A place to read in peace, I'll put my sewing machine down there to taunt me into making more bunting and maybe some geese-free pillows.  I'm going to get to that slipcover for that ottoman soon, probably not.  I'm imagining myself sneaking down there to hide from the noise when another migraine lurks.  It's gonna be sahweet. 

But, I'm thinking it will be a short lived slice of heaven as my always sweet Jack is on the verge of being a typical, sulking, sighing, eye-rolling, annoying teenager and won't want to live upstairs with Grace for much longer.  Sad.  I can't even think about it.  He's entertaining himself by making Grace scream, even as I write.  Maybe I'll turn that extra room into a wine cellar?

Busy, busy, busy...

I haven't added a post for a long time, not because nothing is happening but for the opposite reason.  We got up on that roof at our first sunny opportunity and got 'er done.  Almost.  The outside is patched and a new roof is protecting us from the northwest elements.  We haven't got to the new sheetrocking on the inside yet as that's going to be a little more invasive.  It will involve covering everything up so that the insidious drywall dust doesn't permeate our living space.  We were so proud of ourselves that we promptly took off for Cannon Beach for the weekend.

It was mostly lovely, only one afternoon was too stormy to enjoy the beach.  The kids and Elke love the beach more than anything in the world and I love to watch them have that much fun without the help of any technological devices.  Just sand, shells, and surf.  It's amazing how long that can be entertaining.



Unmitigated Joy

Mike likes the beach too, as long as he can bring his coffee and Blackberry.  He can't do without the technology as long as the kids can...

Argh, nice pirate boots

Other big news this week.  Olivia is calling it quits.  No more ASU after this semester.  She isn't going back.  She's been so miserable and so unhappy.  It's just a little more than a northwest girl can take to be out in that hot, dusty dirt.  She did her best and I'm just happy to have her back.  She and Taylor are applying to Western for the spring quarter and will be attending Shoreline C.C. for the winter quarter.  The downstairs basement room that Sam just vacated will be quickly taken over by Liv and that's what I'm doing this weekend.  Cleaning and painting and preparing.  Liv was worried that we would be put out my having her move back in.  Silly girl.  She's only 18, she's still a baby and I am thrilled to be able to cook for someone who I know appreciates it.  If she were 30 it would be a different story.

Halloween was a success.  Thank Gawd the candy is finally gone.  I picked a bad time to start the Atkins Diet again, it took all my strength.

A milestone and a couple crappy things...

My oldest has flown the nest...again.  We moved Samantha out on Sunday and we only broke one window in the process.  Mike was trying to strap Sam's boxspring onto the top of the Yukon and the bungee snapped and hit the rear window like a gunshot.  Shattered.  Oh well, it's already back to good and Sam is out.  I'm excited for her, she is doing a great job decorating on a dime.  I'm going to start working on turning that basement into a cute Liv's/guest/video game/t.v. room when I have an extra second.  Which I won't anytime soon on account of the third paragraph.

We also scrubbed the front steps so that the little trick or treaters wouldn't slide off our previously treacherously slippery stairs.  We had about four groups of kids, mostly under 6.  Which also means I'm about to gain another 5 pounds finishing off the Halloween candy, why am I not smart enough to buy the gross stuff, like black licorice.  Ack.  Hey, maybe I should keep a pictorial blog of my growing ass...you wish.

Lastly, I woke up this morning to the depressing sound of water dripping.  Extra depressing as it was dripping inside my house.  The roof over my bedroom is done doing what it's supposed to do and we are now going to be doing a major tear down of most of the drywall in my room.  We will also be re-roofing as soon as it stops raining.  We live in Seattle so that may be a while.  Oh, and we don't really know how to re-roof, so yeah.  It's grandpa Steve to the rescue, again.  We are trying to figure out if homeowner's insurance will cover this, but I'm not an optimistic person.  *heavy sigh*  I would now like to officially request to the universe that I win the lotto cuz I need it more than ANYONE else in the world.  Seriously.  Sometimes life is a real bitchosaurus rex.