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.

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.

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. 

Another Happy Birthday...

Having five children means lots of birthdays.  I have a little bit of an April cluster, I have no idea why but three of my five were born in April.  There is another mini-cluster in the Fall, Grace is September and Samantha is Today!  Happy 23rd birthday Tammy Teetower! 

I think that no matter how many children one gives birth too, the event is indelibly and forever burned into your memory.  I can conjure up that moment in a flash.  Sam's birth was my first and was the most difficult, they used forceps back then and she was facing the wrong direction.  After a long, exhausting, 26 hour labor she was pulled and twisted out of my body with the use of a medieval torture device.  She was also my most difficult newborn, colic was our life for 10 weeks, non-stop crying for 4 hours every night.  It would start as soon as her dad got home from work, she would turn bright red and scream, and then it would stop as quickly as it started, exactly 4 hours later.  She didn't take to gaining a sibling too well, she really liked being an only child and welcomed newborn Drew into our house by promptly peeing on the floor even though she was fully potty trained.  Potty training restarted and it took months to get back to trained.  She really taught us.

Sam has had her fair share of issues, 2009 was a horrific year for her and us, but we got her back and she's is working hard to rebuild her life, credit, and relationships.  She confounds me at times, but she is a great girl.  Sweet, fun, and she cares about those she loves.  Little kids love Sam most of all, that speaks volumes to her sweet spirit and sense of humor.  I'm proud of you Sam, I love you!!

Sam and I picked up Liv at the airport on Thursday night for her whirlwind weekend visit.  It was bittersweet, it was fast, it was fun, it was over too quickly.  She requested her favorite meal, chicken pot pie, for dinner on Friday night, but was to busy to fit in any other dinners.  She had lots of friends to see, she had the Husky game on Saturday, lunch with her dad on Sunday, a little bit of homework sprinkled here and there.  But, we did get in some time shopping and lunch on Saturday and baking cookies to take back with her.  I was worried that the separation would drudge up the whole separation sadness, and it did, not like the first time but I'm really feeling her absence again.  Six weeks until Thanksgiving.  :-).

Sick In So Many Ways...

I'm home sick again today.   Sore throat, lack of sleep, mental illness, etc.  I could probably make it in, if it weren't for my extreme fear of infecting my office neighbor, who has been struggling with illness all year and is in a compromised state, immune-system wise.  Plus, it's a girl's overnight to Portland with my bestest buddies on Saturday and I'm determined not to be sick for that.

There are definitely some big advantages to staying home sick.  For one, I'm alone!  Just me...I won't even let the dog and cat in the house cuz they might ask something of me.  Food, water, scratch!  I cleaned through my discomfort yesterday, because I could.  You know you are a domesticated animal when cleaning without anyone home is more appealing than a trip to Hawaii.  My usual cleaning day is Friday, my day off.  Mike usually makes sure he's home on Friday so he can follow me around and talk about stuff that's interesting to him, and I can grow a brain tumor.  I try to clean but I don't feel productive with him around, so I usually end up at Costco or Target, after a long soak in the tub with the door locked.   *sigh*.  Hey, maybe that's why my house is always a mess? 

Less than a week until Liv is home.  It's heartening to see how fast the last 7 weeks have passed, we have another long stretch to Thanksgiving until she's home again and that feels less daunting than before.  *smiling in anticipation*

Two Weeks

Two weeks from tonight I get to give Olivia a big fat hug.  I can see Liv anytime I want on Skype, which is very nice and I'm grateful to whomever invented Skype.  But it's not the same.  I had a dream last night that I was hugging Olivia and I started to cry  in my dream because it felt the same as when I had to say goodbye in that hallway 6 weeks ago.  I'm a little worried about what it will be like to say goodbye again, I think it won't be as terrible as it was the first time.  But, I do think it will be terrible just the same.  Ack, I'm obsessing about her leaving and she isn't even here yet!  I'm hoping our budget will allow me a visit to Tempe this fall, I know I could use the sunshine in my eyes, but mostly I think 7 weeks is too long to go without seeing her.  It's family weekend at ASU this weekend and Dave, Greta, and Jack are going down tomorrow.  I'm happy she will be with family, I know they are really looking forward to seeing her and her new digs. 

I'm  immersing myself into Halloween decorating this weekend.  It's officially Autumn, although it's felt like Fall in Seattle since mid August.  It's just me and Grace, Mike is away playing golf in Bend with his buddies, Jack will be in Tempe, and Sam will be where she is most every weekend.  The weather forecast for Seattle this weekend is sunny and 73, maybe all those green tomatoes hanging on their sad-looking yellow vines will ripen?  I know I'm going to camp my ass on a lawn chair and soak up as many rays as I can.

On the other side...

Cutest Sun Devil ever.  We miss you already Liv!

Grossest motel room ever...somewhere called Willows, California...sounds way prettier than it was.

Me and Liv in her new home away from home.  :-(

We saw a lot of cacti.  They are pokey.

We left Liv on Monday the 16th, and headed to Vegas to meet Mike and Jack.  Sam flew home after a night in Sin City with Momma...woohoo.  Not the way she expected to see Vegas for the first time, I'm sure.  She gambled and lost a grand total on $2.00 in a penny slot machine.  I lost $20 in the dollar slots and it took the same amount of time.

Gracie and Jack didn't like Vegas.  Me neither.

Jack taking a beating from Rocky at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas

Then the gorgeous St. George Temple.  St. George was hot, we had the bestest frozen custard in the world at Nielsen's Custard.  Nice pic, Jack. 

Next it was crazy beautiful Zion where we literally had to kick the squirrels to keep them away from us.  Damn tourists.  We had a picnic in the park next to the lovely Virgin River.  The most beautiful place in the world, I need to go back and spend more time hiking this incredibleness.

I'm so glad we took the opportunity to travel and see Utah, it helped to take my mind of how sad I was to leave Liv behind.

Me and Mike at Ruby's in Bryce Canyon.

These rock formations in Bryce Canyon are called hoodoos, it's like being on another planet.  Really eerily beautiful and the kids learned some things about geological history.

Next stop was Park City, Utah.  Totally upscale but rustic ski town.  We rode the luge slide and the alpine coaster.  Unfortunately the zip line was closed to anyone under 100 lbs due to wind, Jack really wanted to go on that.  I made myself go on the ski lift, 40 feet above ground, and I'm so glad cuz it was beautiful up there.

We spent two nights right there in the village in a cute condo with a loft for the kids.  We then drove to Salt Lake City with a quick stop in Provo....

The mother of all temples in Salt Lake.  I really wanted to sneak inside but I'm pretty sure I would burst into flames.

Inappropriate but funny.

Spent my birthday in Boise, which is surprisingly charming.  Dinner at PF Changs, followed by a power outage at the hotel.  It was over 100 degrees so our room got a little stuffy.

Spent Sunday driving home from Boise.  It only took about 7 hours, less then we thought.  It's so good to sleep in my own bed and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to complain about Seattle weather for a while.  We loved our trip though, we saw so many amazing, beautiful things.  Next year Yellowstone.

I'm counting the weeks until Liv comes home...October 8th can't come fast enough.  I'm not so sure I'm going to get used to this.  It's just very weird.