And everything returns to normal...and its okay

When I got back from vacation, my kids looked so beautiful. The Big Guy showered me with kisses and kept saying "I missed you on your vacation mommy". Spunky Girl followed me around a bit (actually pulled a chair into the bathroom when I needed to use the commode), and Sweetness wanted to tell me all about what she did while I was gone. They all looked so tall, too!

The first day, I experienced a sense of lightness in my parenting. Sure, I still had to deal with some sibling arguing, but it didn't irk me down deep. Sure, the kids were as noisy as a semi truck in a tunnel, but I didn't seem to mind. Sure, the Big Guy refused to take his nap, but I kinda wanted to play with him anyway. During dinner, Spunky girl knocked her drink over during dinner and I just grabbed a towel and cleaned it up. I didn't feel anything about that. Then she knocked her second drink over, actually into her plate this time, so I got her a second plate of food. And I didn't have any negative feelings about that. That's when I knew I was in the honeymoon period following my vacation. There is no other way to explain my lack of irritation when 2 drinks were spilled by the same child within 5 minutes.

Today (Sunday) didn't have that same lightness. Hubby was at the firehouse today, so I had the kids on my own. Getting the family ready for church this morning had its trying moments. When I tried to get myself ready for the day, the kids kept busting in and wanting me to do things for them. I felt frustration. I didn't want to be irritated at them...I just wanted them to do what I had asked them to while I finished getting my teeth brushed. And then began the correcting and repeating. "Let's get our shoes on" "Who has their shoes on?" "Please stop crying...I'll help find your shoe" "No, you can't wear crocs" "Could you please help your brother with his shoes?" "Hey, let her help. I told her to help." "No, I'll do it...just get in the car." "Just stop crying"

Sigh. I don't want it to go like that, but somehow I feel powerless to keep it from going like that. And then I feel bad about my inability to parent in such a way that avoids those moments, and that makes me angry at them too (because, even though I don't want to admit it, it is easier to be annoyed at them to admit that I feel powerless to stop the scenario from playing out).

And then suddenly, it hits me that the honeymoon period is over and from now on spilled milk is going to be just as annoying as it was before I went on vacation. I'm back to growling "Can you just give me a minute? I'm right in the middle of something" to the endless requests. And I so badly want to be the parent in the honeymoon period. The parent who can parent without so much negative emotion bubbling in my soul. The person who can correct bad behavior and encourage good behavior without having to choke down what I ought not to say.

And then I realize...that is it. No more wishing otherwise. I am going to be the parent who has to battle her irritation, temper, resentment, pride and selfishness because that is how God is making me into a better person. Only when I am faced with the reality that I am either going to battle against my limitations or I am going to fail to be the parent those beautiful children deserve do I truly go to battle against my faults. It simply isn't okay to say "well, that's just who I am" when my children deserve better. They deserve the best. God gave me those kids to raise and they will get the best mother I can make myself be.

*******
I wrote this post and then set it aside for 2 days. That is unusual for me, but I didn't want to throw something out there that made me sound like a bad mom or that I'm always barking at my children. But it is an honest look at what I struggle with, what I wish for, and an acceptance that it is okay. And maybe admitting it to myself and all of you will make it easier to keep plowing ahead with a positive attitude. Gosh that sounded all Pollyanna...

P.S. Who uses the word "commode"?

15th Anniversary Maui Vacation -- Day 8

Well, it is time to get packed up. We made it to Maui with just carry-on luggage, but we won’t make it home that way. We brought a little duffel bag with us, so we’ll use that as a carry on and check one of our suitcases. We also have to check Scott’s lumber. Paying $15 for checking the lumber is a lot cheaper than UPSing it home! I wish there was a prize for the largest souvenir.

Since I slept in till nearly 8 am (8 am!!!), we didn’t get checked out till 10 am. Scott got up at 6:30 am, but I have no idea what he did with his time because I was lost in dreamland. He did snuggle back up with me at 7:30, but I’m pretty sure he did that just to wake me up.

We had considered a number of plans for our Friday morning…kayaking out to see some turtles, snorkeling at black rock, swimming in the pool…but we just didn’t want to get all wet in the morning and then try to pack our wet clothes by our checkout time at 10am.
So we decided to go to the movies instead. The Bounty Hunter with Jennifer Anniston and Gerard Butler opened today and it had an 11:45 showing. We headed to the theater but started to have second thoughts once we were in line for tickets. If the show doesn’t get out until 1:30 and our flight is supposed to leave at 2:45…and we have to return our rental car…do we really have time for this? We opted to not risk it and just some time hanging around the mall and having lunch. There was a significant line at the airport, so we were glad we got to the airport at 1:20 instead of nearly 2 pm.

But…then we got delayed for mechanical failure, so it really wouldn’t have mattered if we’d taken the time to watch the movie. Hey, that’s the way the beach ball bounces, right?

We ended up with a 3 hour delay, which we decided to eat and drink our way through. First, Starbucks. Scott (I told you he always orders better than me) ordered a super yummy dark chocolate cherry mocha. My regular mocha was delicious, but not as delicious as his.

Then, when we knew it was going to be a long delay, we went and found Claire and Klye again. Since they were on our flight home too, we might as well spend our time hanging out. There was a Sammy Bar and Grill in the airport, created by Sammy Hagar "to help the children". I never saw it clarified which children he was supporting. Hopefully it wasn't just his own. Is it just me, or do the Winston's look a little too cozy with the gorilla?

When it was finally time to board the plane, we headed back to our gate. We saw Lily Jang was waiting to get on the same flight that we were. Lily Jang is a broadcast journalist for Q13 Fox News. She's a great newscaster and also happens to be super hot. Kyle stole a few dozen looks at her before it was clear to all of us that he needed to go introduce himself and say hi. His wife Claire offered to be his wing man, but he was still feeling a little shy...so we called him a chicken and that seemed to help. She was super nice and chatted with Kyle and Claire for a few minutes and took a picture with them. I did some quick research online when searching for a good "cute Lily" picture and it turns out that she's a big contributor to firefighter/burn foundation charities. Go Lily!!! She's an enthusiastic twitterati as well, so go follow her tweets.

So that's it people...the end of my vacation. We got in at 2:06 am on Saturday the 20th and were picked up at the airport by my super-sweet father, who didn't even complain about the time. The kids were already asleep at his house, so Scott and I crashed at our until 9:30 that morning and then reunited with our kiddos.

Thanks for reading all the way through my vacation blog posts people. Y'all make me happy.

15th Anniversary Maui Vacation -- Day 7

Day 7 – Thursday

Scott and I were so excited about what we had planned for today. We had a 5 hour zip-line adventure planned with Flyin’ Hawaiian. 5 hours of zipping over Maui, dangling only by a cable…how fun does that sound!?!! Checkout www.flyinhawaiianzipline.com to see what they offer. Alas, as we were pulling out of the hotel parking to go there, they called and said our adventure had to be cancelled due to rain. Sigh. Bummer. The “up country” (what the call the inner part of the Island) gets a lot more rain than the beaches do. The only slight comfort was that it was going to be an expensive 5 hours, so at least I can feel better about not spending that cash…but still. Sigh. Okay, I’m still in paradise…let’s go have some fun in the sun.

Scott and I walked down to Whaler’s Village to get some frozen yogurt (hey, frozen dessert at 10 am makes perfect sense when it is 82 degrees out!) and revisit some of the stores. Scott loved the Koa wood carved turtles in one of the furniture stores. I checked the price tags on those turtles and thought I would dissuade him from buying those pricey carvings by saying “Hey you could make those”. Well, that started his wheels going…and before I knew it he had done research on where you could buy Koa wood on the Island and we were off to a lumberyard in Maui. Gotta be careful what you say around a boy that is capable of doing whatever he sets his mind to! He was able to find several boards that he liked. I was a HUGE help, of course, in picking out the right ones…that was before I got bored and headed back out to the car to read my book. The joy of a convertible (thanks honey!) is that I could still lay out in the sun, even if I’m sitting outside a lumberyard instead of on the beach.
Lisa in the fun convertible

We headed back to the hotel and I caught a few minutes of lying out by the pool. The wind was blowing a bit, so I before long I headed back up to our room and took a long bath and got ready for dinner. We had plans to meet Kyle and Claire Winston for dinner at the Mala restaurant in Lahaina. It is right on the ocean and we were able to watch turtles poking their heads out of the water from our seats inside. Loved that! The food was great there…definitely our nicest meal in Maui. We started the meal with an Ahi bruscetta appetizer and a tomato/mozzarella/flax bread tower with balsamic vinaigrette. Yummo. Dinner for me was a Prime Rib Eye and Scott had a fresh seafood choppino. Here we are at the restaurant. If you need any help, the tan people are Kyle and Claire. Scott and I are the whiter ones on the left. =) It was fun running into Kyle and Claire and having people to enjoy the paradise with. Plus...they know everyone that we know, so we could talk about all you people. They remind us a little bit of us, about 8 years ago before parenting blessed (took over) our lives.

After dinner we headed back down to the art galleries on Lahaina’s Front street. I thought it was really fun to look at the work of Peter and Madeleine Powell, who paint mostly junk food and crayons. Claire and Kyle introduced us to Victor Bregeda & Vladimir Kush. Both artists do fascinating work, but are a little too “out there” for our taste. Still, it is fun to look at their art and the art of other masters like Dali, Erte, and Picasso.

15th Anniversary Maui Vacation -- Day 6

Today Scott has his second day of Diving training. I went with him this morning so I could hang out on a new beach (Airport beach...named that because it was where they used to land planes. It is on the opposite side of the Island from Kahalui, where the big airport is). It was fun there. I saw some good whale action (of which I captured nothing with my camera) and got to see some humunguous beautiful homes on the beach. I also got to see Scott get all suited up for diving and descend into the water. There wasn't much to see after that, since he's submerged, so I took a little nap on the beach and then read my novel. Sigh...a morning well spent!
Airport Beach

Scott's all set to dive. The surf boy in the back is his instructor Zack.

There he goes!

Scott saw turtles, octopus, and eels while he was diving...in addition to a myriad of fish and coral

I spent some time blogging in the afternoon (ya think these posts write themselves?) and then headed back to pick up Scott. We came back to the hotel and rented some snorkeling gear, planning to snorkel at Black Rock so I could see more turtles. Scott wanted to get a few pictures of them on our underwater camera so he could show the kids at home. Unfortunately, the water was too murky (high tide) for snorkeling when we got there, so it was really just an expensive 2 mile walk in the surf. Great workout for the legs though!

We were forced to spend our time playing in the pool instead. By the time we finished hanging out in the pool, we were famished. We hurried back to our room, traded our swimsuits for dry clothes, and headed back out for dinner. We caught a beautiful sunset just as we were leaving.


We had planned all week that we would eat at Carl Jr.'s fast food restaurant at least once because Scott used to eat there as a kid and loved it (we don't have them in our town). We decided tonight was our Carl Jr. night, so we drove 30 minutes down to Kihea and went through the drive through for some Western Bacon Cheeseburgers. We took our burgers to Wailea (I don't think they allow fast food joints in Wailea...it is the most uppity part of the Island). We ate our burgers in the parking lot before heading in to the Wailea mall to check out more art galleries.

This one of the great things about hanging out with my hubby. We both can enjoy eating junky fast food, then going to peruse expensive art, and then drive back with the top down while rocking out to Metallica, Black Sabbath, and Jethro Tull. How could we be more perfect for each other?

15th Anniversary Maui Trip -- Day 4

Day 4 Monday --
Monday morning was another shopping trip in Lahaina. I have to look in every store to make sure that I make my purchases at just the right combination of quality and price. Our shopping has centered on surf/dive/swimwear shops. We each want a rashguard to wear while we're out on the water and we want to bring our kids home rashguard swimwear sets as a "we missed you tons" gifts. We made some good headway on those, finding something for both Cade, Scott and I. Then it was back to the hotel to grab a boogie board and hit the beach.

I expected watching Scott boogie board would be more exciting. There was a really strong current, so he spent most of the time swimming sideways to stay in line for the good waves. A lot less action than I hoped. Someday I will see that husband of mine surf like he is Laird Hamilton...but sadly that won't be this trip.

Another sad, sad moment on the beach today was when my new hat went sailing down the beach and was crushed beneath a wave and driven into the sand. Sigh. I REALLY liked this hat (Forever21...only $13!!!). I'm drying out the hat now. Maybe it can be salavaged.

But it was super fun to play in the surf. Scott laughs at me because every little wave knocks me over. I am like a fish out of water!

After we played in the surf, we headed back for some time in the pool. We took advantage of the water slide at our hotel. Wheeeee.... (Any guesses how many pictures it took for me to catch Scott on the slide? HeeHee)


After our fun in the sun and water, we got ready to go to Warren & Annabel's Magic Show. We saw the Warren and Annabel show when we were in Maui 4 years ago and LOVED it. We're so excited to go again, especially as they have guest magicians performing right now so it will be a different show. The tickets for the show were compliments of my lovely parents for our anniversary (15 years and the reason for our week in paradise) and it was fabulous. Dinner at the show was awesome...Kahlua Pork wraps, coconut shrimp, crab cakes, chicken satay...all delicious and great desserts. We got to sit up in the front row of the magic show. The front row is where they put people that the magician is planning on interacting with during his show. It is the best seats for trying to see what the magician is doing and it is really fun too. The magician called me up to the front to have a white dove read my mind. It was hillarious and we had a really good time.


After the show, Scott and I walked through the Lahaina art galleries. We saw two pieces of art that we really liked. First we saw some beautiful photographs of the inside of waves. The pictures would look beautiful in the basement remodel that Scott is working on. The main room in the basement is supposed to be Scott's man cave (when the fam-fam isn't using it!) so I want it to reflect the design style that he likes. The photographs are framed (kind-of framed...more like covered) in lucite, so they are really sturdy and could take the wear and tear of a basement room. The pictures are bright blue...but also the same colors of green and tan that we used in our paint & carpets, so I think they would go fabulously. The only downside was the price tag, which completely knocked it out of the water for Scott and I. Now that I have in mind what would look awesome, though, I can start hunting for more price friendly options.

The second piece of art we liked was by an artist that we met at church on Sunday morning. Roman Czerwinski is a friendly guy who welcomed us to church and never mentioned that he was a world renowned artist. I noticed that a painting on the wall of the church building bore his name and was thrilled to see more of his work in the uppity art gallery's on Lahaina's Front Street. Here's a link to Roman Czerwinski's Art Bio. We loved the painting of a palm tree with a cluster of coconuts (which I cannot find online to show you...must be too new). It would be a fun addition to our house, but we couldn't in good conscience put an original Roman Czerwinski painting in our basement. As the most expensive thing we would own, except for our vehicles, it should have a more formal viewing area away from where kids could touch it. Alas, we don't have the funds for that artwork either (significantly more than the earlier photograph that we liked)...but it was fun to dream. If we are ever blessed enough to come back to Maui (please, please, please), I can't wait to come back and see more of Roman's art.

Monday was a fabulous day and now I'm tired...but hey, at least I made it till 10:30 pm before falling asleep!

15th Anniversary Vacation Blog -- Day 5

Day 5 -- Tuesday
...and so begins Day 5. We slept in till nearly 7am Maui time. Could we have finally adjusted to the time change? Will we sleep in till 8 am tomorrow, which would finally be a time that counts as "sleeping in" for us? It is so lovely to wake up and open the curtains and listen to the waves crash as you lie listless in bed. Sigh. A not-very-good picture of Lisa on our balcony

Today is Scott's first day at dive school. At 8:30 am, I drove him down to the dive shop and then I was on my own for the day. There are so many possibilities for my day. I can lay by the pool all day. I can lay on the beach all day. I can shop all day. I can sit in a hammock and read my book all day. I can even stay in my hotel room and blog and watch movies all day. Honestly, it feels funny to not have any direction on what to do. Usually I make my plans based on a to-do list and what will work best for my family, and then sneak in a few minutes here and there of what I want to do. Today is all about what I want to do and I have to force myself to not try to plan it out, but to just let it unfold as it will.

I opted for laying by the pool while I washed Scott's laundry. This may sound selfless, but the darling boy didn't pack a full week's worth of underwear because he was limiting his packing so I could bring all the clothes that I wanted for the week...and because we wanted to travel with carry-on luggage only. If that isn't true love...

Anyway, so I laid by the pool for awhile and then came back for a 10 am snack and some movie/reading time. Then I headed down for some shopping and paid FULL PRICE for some darling swim outfits for my girls. I miss them. I can't wait to give them the little treasures that I've been picking up for them.

After shopping, it is back to the hotel for some more reading/blogging time before I head back to pick up Scott. He loved his first day of diving and is really looking forward to getting his certification. It is something he has always wanted to do, so I'm glad we're making the time for it in our vacation. Of course, it means that after an early dinner at the Hula Grill he needed to study for a few hours...but I was tired anyway so a night watching television while sitting in front of my open patio door and listening to the surf and feeling the ocean breeze was fine by me. Bedtime by 10 pm, up by 6:30 am.

Lisa and Scott at the Hula Grill

15th Anniversary Vacation Blog -- Day 3

Sunday morning we woke up early...again. We travel for umpteen miles to vacation alone in paradise and find ourselves still getting up at the crack of dawn. Seattle is 3 hours ahead of Maui, so when our bodies think it is 8 am it is only 5 am Maui time. You can only imagine the party animal I am at 9 pm Maui time (midnight Seattle time)...everyone who knows me well knows that I can't stay up late! Poor Scott. He kept mentioning before we left how wonderful it was going to be to sleep in. I suppose the good news about getting up so early is that there isn't much of a line when the coffee stand opens at 6:30 (but there really isn't a line any other time of the day either). Maybe the good news is that there was plenty of lounge chairs and hammocks available...cause baby, they are a hot commodity around here! People actually get up while it is still dark and go lay out their towels over their favorite lounge chairs to save them for later. Cracks me up...crazy people.
Lisa and Scott in a hammock on the beach at 6 am

Sunday morning we headed to the North side of the island to go to Bible class & worship services with the Church of Christ at Wailehu Beach. Two interesting things happened there. First, we ran into Kyle and Claire Winston, who is the son and daughter-in-law of my parent's good friends Cal and Kim Winston. Small world. We'll be meeting up with them for dinner on Thursday night. The second thing that happened is that the visiting preacher, Joe Johnson from Missouri, fell ill during his class and they had to call an ambulance. Scott was able to stabilize him and keep an eye on his vital signs while we all waited for the medics to arrive. My hubby the hero.

The guy that stepped up and spoke during the morning service in Joe's place (Paul Annis maybe?) did a great lesson on Colossians 3. It is a testament to the time he obviously spends in the Bible that he can get up and give an encouraging talk on just a few minutes notice.

After a great worship service, we did some quick shopping at Queen Kamehameha Mall and then drove up to the Haleakala Crater. It is a beautiful drive up through the middle of the island. The views of the water were breaktaking and the green rolling hills are beautiful. By the time you get up close to the top, you really can't see that much because you are driving in a cloud.
We hadn't planned our excursion to Haleakala so I was wearing shorts and sandals...not exactly the right attire for climbing around the rocks by the crater. (Hey, it is a page from my sister Krissy's playbook. She hiked the Alps in flip-flops.)

We stopped at Bubba Gumps for some dinner on the way home, which was fun, and headed back to the hotel for some hottubbing. We were back in our room a little after 9pm and I was sound asleep by 10 pm. =)

15th Anniversary Vacation Blog -- Day 1

Lisa and Scott on our flight to Maui

**** And so begins my blog about my vacation. You'll notice that I'm not posting my blog posts until I am almost home, just in case any of my friends' friends are home burglurists by trade. Hey, maybe you don't want to read a daily play-by-play of my vacation. I'm not sure I blame you. It might come off as boasting about my blessings and good fortune, which is not my intent. I enjoy blogging about my vacation though. I get to enjoy it twice that way: once when I experience it and again when I write about it. Call it my version of scrap-booking...and hey, if you don't want to read it...then don't. I'll never know. =)****


I'm in MAUI...80 degrees and beautiful. The heat as I exit the airport hits me like a tidal wave, of course, but I'll be getting used to it. We arrived around 5 pm Seattle time, which is 3 pm Maui time. By the time we got our rental car, drove to Ka'anapali and checked in, it was 4:30. I was a hungry, hungry hippo (remember that game?). Apparently the airline doesn't subscribe to my "let's eat something substantial every 2.5 hours" plan. Hubby and I made dinner our first priority and ate at the restaurant in our hotel. We wanted something light, so we both opted for fish. Hubby ordered a blackened Opa fish (which was awesome) and I had a macadamia nut encrusted swordfish (also good). He always manages to order just a little better than me.

After dinner we walked down the boardwalk to Whaler's village and started a little shopping. I think it is funny how many of the shops are repeated throughout the local shopping holes. There must be 16 ABC stores within the square mile. There are equally as many Honolua Surf Co. stores and Quicksilver/Roxy/Billabong/Element/Pac Sun stores. It must be like repeated advertising in televison shows. You know...when you aren't hungry when you start watching NCIS but desperately need a junk food fix when it is over because of all the repeated commercials?

Back to the hotel after some light shopping and we grab some haagen daaz for dessert. Yummy!

Saturday morning we head out first thing to go whale/dolphin watching and snorkeling at Lan'ai. It was FABULOUS. Amazing weather. The whales are so cool to watch, especially the mommy and baby calves. (Note that I cannot take a picture of a whale. I saw tons of whales on our trip and all I have to show for it is a bunch of pictures of the ocean. This, sadly, is the best one I got. What??? You can't see the whale? Shocking!)
They are expecting a bigger return of whales than they had in 2008, which was the best year in quite a long time. Snorkeling is awesome, but it always takes me about 5 minutes to quell the feelings of panic and stick my face into the water. Even though I recognize there is nothing to be fearful of (I'm wearing a bright yellow floatie, for goodness sake), I still freak out a bit. Hubby thought I wasn't going to make it for a moment, but I knew that I would eventually calm down if I could just stay with it for a few minutes. As soon as I had my face in the water and was distracted by a beautiful fish, I forgot to be so freaked out and my breathing calmed.

I love to watch hubby in the water. He dives way down to see the fish and coral. He's quick like a fish too. I spent most of my snorkeling time looking for the "elusive white human fish in the blue Hawaiian shorts".

My favorite time during the excursion was the way home. I love laying out in the sun, feeling the heat dry my hair and clothes, letting my body meld into the crashing movement of the boat, and chilling. After our excursion, we headed back into Ka'anapali hung out for awhile, making our first visit to the awesome 3 acre pool with the fun water slide. After that, all I had energy for was making plans for the rest of our week and watching lame movies on television. I was exhausted by 8 pm and fell asleep by 9:15 or so. Quite the little party animal, aren't I?

Lisa tries to tell a story, but it takes her a really long time.

I was having dinner at my friend Keri's house the other night (we were celebrating the end of our diet challenge) with a group of Keri's friends. Keri was telling her friends a story about when I was getting ready to go to Disneyland and how I emailed everyone, trying to find some fanny packs. Of course, the point of telling that story was to point out what a dork and fashion imbecile I was to want those fanny packs.

***in my defense, I wanted the fanny packs for my kids to wear. I wanted each child to have a mini bottle of water, a pack of Kleenex and some contact information in case we got seperated. The fanny packs were never for ME to wear, only for me to force my children to wear.

It was a funny story and everybody laughed. The next day Keri sent me a text asking me if she had hurt my feelings by joking around about the fanny packs. I sent a text back saying that I didn't mind a bit, but unfortunately Keri never received my reply text.

***some times I am texting-challenged. I've been known to type in the name of the person I want to text to and forget to click on their contact name...which sends their message into the great unknown instead of to their cell phone. I'd love to say that only has happened to me once, but I'd be lying.

So, when Keri doesn't receive a response to her message, she gets more concerned that she did hurt my feelings. She sends two more messages, including a lengthy Keri-esqe voice mail, about how she was just joking around but never meant to hurt my feelings...yada yada yada. So I figure I'd better call her back and make sure she knows that I was totally fine with the conversation.

I call Keri back and we laugh about the text message that I know I sent, but yet-again she has not received. I forward it to her again and reassure her that I know that I am a dork and wasn't the least bit offended about being the joke of that fanny-pack story. ... and then Keri says "Oh good. I just know how sensitive you can feel about friendship issues and I didn't want to inadvertently hurt your feelings."

...

um...what? Did she just say that I am overly sensitive about friendship issues? Easily offended? Hyper-sensitive?

Yeah. I think she did. Of course, I cannot comment back to her about that comment because that would be acting entirely sensitive about friendships issues. And even if I am overly sensitive (which I probably am), I certainly don't want to be thought of as overly sensitive...and so I'll act like that wasn't a lame comment.

But then I'll laugh at myself later and post the entire story on facebook, so everyone knows that at least I can laugh about how overly sensitive I am.

Love ya Girl!

I did promise you a meaningless post....

Okay, so you know that rule that says "if you haven't worn it in a year, you should get rid of it". Well, I blogged about these new white pants on June 1st of last year.Here is the original post about the white pants. Have I worn them since then? NO. At first I thought I just needed to lose a few pounds and I would like the pants better. But then I lost a few and I still didn't like the pants. The pants were super tight around my calves and pulled the pants down (yes, down like off my bum). I could have worn a belt to keep them up, but the sensation still wasn't that great. Anyhoo...

So I decided it was time to let the pants go or do something to fix them. So I hacked off the tight-calf part, rolled them up a bit, and sewed 'em back together. Whaddya think? Better?



P.S. My mother wouldn't be proud to see the unmade bed and the piles of clothes in the background of the pictures. But hey, we go for honest journalism...

Helping out? Or just doing my part?

Why does it feel like I'm helping hubby when I work in the basement? After all, it is my basement too. But somehow it feels like it is his project to finish the basement and any work that I do is voluntary. I expect a "oh honey, that was so nice of you. I really appreciate it" response when I clean up down there.

I tried to flip that around to see if I could justify that position in the reverse. Does hubby feel like he is helping me with housework instead of just contributing to the overall effort? Am I okay with it if that is how he feels? I've always expected him to help out, especially if I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off because people are coming over. I think it would irritate me if he refused to help and said something stupid like "that's your job", but I'm not sure I care if he is helping and his motivation is to make life easier for me...or if he wants to make me feel loved and supported by his effort. That seems okay...probably because I accept the primary role in the housework. Now that would be a different story if we are talking about taking care of the kids...but that would be a digression. Back to my "helping in the basement" post.

Here are a few pictures of our project, so you all can see my hubby's fabulous skills. First is my stairs. We call them "Lisa's stairs" because hubby doesn't see the attraction to wood stairs. After all, they cost more, are harder to put in, and are more slippery for people to walk on. But, as anyone who takes the primary housework role will tell you, vacuuming stairs is a PAIN. I think they are beautiful!


The following picture is the new family room, which is mainly designed to be a man cave for hubby. I'm sure it will also double as a place to send the kids during social events (assuming the men aren't using it) or a primo sleepover location. Do you like my new green accent wall?


The last picture is our new hobby room. Hubby built this room so we'd have a place to leave out our hobby's while they are "in progress". We've both learned from experience that you can't leave something laying around and expect the toddlers not to touch it when you aren't looking. The big question is "Can fishing stuff (fly tying, rod building, etc.) live side by side with sewing (quilting, mending, etc.)?"


Looking forward to your comments! (so leave me one, will ya?)

Saturday Morning Hike at Timberline Park

On Saturday morning, hubby and I took the kids down to Loew's hardware store so we could pick out some supplies for our basement project. Having 3 kids in a hardware store when you are trying to pick out home furnishing is no fun. No fun for them. No fun for us. After about an hour of that, I decided it was time to take the kids on our Saturday morning hike.

It was just me and the kids again, so I needed to find somewhere local to hike that wouldn't be too long or too taxing. Just down the road was Timberline Park. "No, I don't want to go there" I thought. "Why not?" I said to myself "it has been nearly 17 years since THAT day."

Timberline park has a special memory for me. When I was in high school, it was the park where kids went because they wanted some privacy while making out. That's not the memory it holds for me. No, Timberline Park was the location that my then-fiance took me when he asked for his engagement ring back. Well, asked might be the wrong word. He pretty much told me to give it back. Apparently the idea that I was planning on using it in a few short months was immaterial to him.

It wasn't the best day I ever had. So, here I am, 17 years later and still not wanting to return to that park? Come on...that doesn't make any sense. After all, God used that opportunity to bring me together with Hubby...who is the greatest man in the world for me. So, off to the park I went. I got there and my older girls said "Hey, we've been here before. Grandma and Grandpa took us hiking here." Then they climbed out of the car and scampered off into the exact direction of that fateful "ring-returning" encounter. And it turned out that the idea of going back to that park was much more disturbing than actually going back to that park. It is a lovely park. The kids loved it and I can't wait to go back. So I guess that turned out all right. =)