A New Season

I love that we live in a place that has 4 seasons! I love that it was 81 degrees here today. It is supposed to snow later this week! Love that too.

My husband and I were talking this weekend about how much our lives have changed over the last several years. I'm not enjoying this season. I have enjoyed parts of it; I guess...I've enjoyed having time to figure out what brings me joy. I love that my husband does all the cooking now, which he didn't do when our kids were young, and which I hate!

The things I miss the most are when our kids were young and we were running them to games and events and hanging out with family for hours on end. Going to Broomfield Days with my sister in law every year for what seems like a lifetime. Watching my kids play with their cousins. I miss family camping trips with friends over a long weekend, the kids staying up late and getting too much sun, and eating too much junk food. i miss volleyball at church with friends and dinner afterwards. Volleyball with my brother in law and sister in law....winning trophies and feeling like "athletes", man, those were fun times!

The kids are grown now, one has a child of her own, the other is still at home but not for long! Nothing is as it was-- and some days I just really miss it.

So now we move into a new season- A season without running our kids all over the place. The season of camping with all those friends is over. Family's have moved or moved on. It's a new season, one that I could have never anticipated!

But life goes on, doesn't it? I have a plan to move into this new season. I'm so afraid my husband and I will turn into couch potatoes if we don't make a plan.... oh, and I do love a plan, too bad he doesn't love a plan! Thankfully he does love to make me happy:) The plan is to buy kayaks and spend sometime finding things to do together that we both enjoy. He will never run with me, or go hiking with me but he might ride a bike while I run. It's all good, because there's no going back. Time to make new traditions for just the two of us.


"Like all parents, my husband and I just do the best we can, and hold our breath, and hope we've set aside enough money to pay for our kids' therapy."
---Michelle Pfeiffer

Day Dreams

If you're a daydreamer be proud! Keep it up- I've always been a daydreamer because it's worked for me. I don't get too disappointed when the daydream doesn't come to pass. It's really a bit of a coping mechanism. It's given me a sense of hope at times in my life when I had very little to be hopeful for, especially when I was young, but even now I'm day dreaming about a few things.... when I have time!

I remember when I was in the 4th grade my teacher told my mom at conferences that I was "just a day dreamer", like it was a really bad thing or something! (remember the scene in Uncle Buck where he goes to see the principal and she tells him that his neice is a waste, a silly heart, and he throws her a quater and tells her to take it and go down town and have a rat naw that wart off her face? that's what someone should have told Mrs. Mills for the way she treated me) Look, I knew I was a talker, but I really couldn't help myself :) (No guilt here) but why make a girl feel bad about being a daydreamer or a talker? I'm certain that God made us girls that way, we're communicators, nurturers, made to be passionate about relationships and everything that concerns us, we have to talk about whatever is going on in our lives, and talk about it to whoever will listen. But. Mrs. Mills was a cold-hearted woman, she obviously had no concept of how God created boys and girls. My brother was in her class the year before me and she really liked him, he was smart and wanted to please her and do everything that was expected of him. I remember passing notes to Tracy Whomble to see if she wanted to trade shoes for the day. Mrs. Mills would pull my hair and hit me over the head with a yard stick.... Sounds like a law suite today doesn't it? It probably contributed to the reason I was so determined to put my kids in private school, in retrospec I probaly didn't make the best decision on that one either but at least my heart was in the right place so no regrets.
I will continue to daydream about our next vacation... and the house we’re hunting for at the moment.... And whatever else, but I will NOT feel bad about it.

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.”

Harriet Tubman

All In A Day

Some days are just hard! Today was one of those days. I started off just not feeling like myself, feeling a little anxious because I knew David was going to be doing our taxes, afraid we might have to pay…. And we do! Work was full of interruptions- like every day, but today I just wasn't coping like I usually do. I felt like I didn't do anything well! I fixed computers and posted help wanted ads, sifted through resumes—I’m convinced that some of them had to be a joke! Listened to a few employees complain about something they know nothing about. Served our assistants an appreciation lunch (which I enjoyed)! I dealt with employees who weren't following protocol, at least that was the appearance! Which leads me to the one part of my day that finally brought some much-needed closure to a 13-year mystery. So, for all these years this man has called our office and every time he calls I think he's a woman until he say's "this is John". Now, John looks like a man, but sounds like a woman...it's always really confused me because he's also sooper flamboyant, to further confuse me he's married to a woman! Having said all that, I must tell you that she, the wife is confusing too. She's a woman, but she's unusually butch for a woman that's married to a "man". I'm guessing you're getting the whole picture now, which took me 13 years to figure out. Interestingly enough, John has been on testosterone for the last 10 plus years. Hmmm, John was likely born Joanne, right? So, to sum this up, John and the woman they call "the wife" are lesbians. What the heck...why did it take me so long to figure this out? Mostly, why do they have to be so confusing? Wanna be gay? Fine, great- whatever… just leave all the wacky crap out of it, because the truth is, you look like a confused lost mess!!!
The good news is that my day ended with complete bliss... I came home and ran for 40 minutes on the treadmill, sounds weird but this is so relaxing, and brain numbing, work didn't enter my mind one time. When I got off  I got to see my lovely daughter and her sweet Layla, and the biggest blessing was that they brought my sweet Minna with them, love those girls. To complete this perfect evening David made grilled chicken, baked potatoes and the perfect salad, oh and a yummy glass of wine! Probably should have been on that treadmill for 2 hours to burn off all that food....

Movement is a medicine for creating change in a person's physical, emotional, and mental states.
~Carol Welch
Well, it works for me!

I Need A Vacation

I've said it a million times- "I need a vacation" Today, I need a vacation like no other time in my life! My stress level seems to be at an all time high! So my vacation daydreaming begins...My idea of vacation is an all-inclusive resort or a Caribbean cruise. I think we'll do a cruise this May. I love the sushi bars, every cruise line has a sushi bar-- and the fancy dessert bars, I eat whatever I want on a cruise, well, I eat whatever I want most of the time but I feel guilty about it, when I'm on vacation I never feel guilty- I especially love laying in the sun reading a great book and sipping my ice water with lemon. I love getting up early and finding my way to the top deck to run laps. The ocean and the breeze are soul soothing and so rejuvenating. Then there’s the midnight buffet- which I've only managed to attend one time.... and we've been on 2 cruises, but if I could stay up that late, or eat that late and not feel like crap the next day I'd do it every night of the cruise. I love people watching, and even meeting some of those people! I love the water, that clear blue water is probably the single most calming thing I've ever experienced. I love to snorkel and eat different food at each port. I love buying silly trinkets for my family and taking silly pictures of David and I. I even love to throw away 20 bucks playing bingo, and spending 8 dollars on that silly drink they hand you when you board. I kind of enjoy watching those people who have had a drink in their hands since they stepped foot on the boat just about faint when they go up to the pursers desk to pay their tab and realize that they've spend 800 dollars on alcohol for the week. Too funny! I'm ready to go on my vacation. NOW! Maybe someday I'll be able to go two times a year!

A vacation is what you take when you can no longer take what you've been taking. ~Earl Wilson


What's your idea of a vacation?