A small short post

No, not a post that has a few number of words (although it likely will), a post about how my shorts are too small. Really, people, it is slow news day.

I bought these shorts because I thought the backside was cute. I knew they were snug but I thought they'd be fine. Of course, I forgot the cardinal rule of trying things on...you have to sit in them. I sit down and my thighs bulge out the leg holes, my belly pops over the top and we're not even discussing what happens in other regions. Oy.



I think these better go into the "someday" box before I split a seam. Good thing I bought them cheap!

Anniversary Weekend 09

Hold on to your hats, my friends, this could be a long one…


If you know me well, and most of you do, you know that I’m a planner. On June 17th, hubby and I will celebrate our 14th wedding anniversary. Natch, he and I are working on our vacation plans for next year in celebration of our 15th! My mom offered to watch the kids for the weekend for this anniversary, so hubby and I are off on a quick weekend away with only a couple of weeks of planning. How spontaneous of us (hey, you should take what you can get…we don’t get more spontaneous than that)!

As you may surmise from my earlier post about $$$, hubby and I had very different ideas of what we wanted to do on our vacation and how much that should cost. We essentially ended up doing what I thought we should, spending a lovely weekend up at his dad’s cabin in the mountains. I think paying for the airline tickets for next years trip to Maui made that decision easier for hubby.

Of course, our kids are still sick, at least Sweetness and the Big Guy are. The Friday morning of our departure was a stressful one. The Big Guy threw up in his crib at sometime during the night and continued to sleep there, so we started the day by giving him a bath and changing out his linens (and airing out his room – Phew!). I made the mistake of dressing myself for the weekend away first thing in the morning, so I was a tad unhappy when the Big Guy puked again all over my outfit. Both my incredibly giving mom and baby sister said they were okay with us leaving them with sick kids and agreed to watch the kids at my house (where the kids could vomit in a place that felt secure to them I assume. I would never accuse my mom of not wanting the vomit in her house). I spent the morning hours on Friday frantically cleaning my house so I could leave it in a state that wouldn’t be gross. By 12:30 we were ready to go. The Big Guy was throwing a fit because he sensed the imminent departure of his mommy and Sweetness took that exact moment to puke all over the bathroom floor, rug, and toilet so by the time I cleaned that up I was very ready to go.

Hubby and I headed into town first, intending to have lunch at California Pizza Kitchen and make a quick stop at the mall before heading out of town. We both realized that we were not feeling hungry (perhaps a little paranoid that we were going to get sick too) and decided to grab a snack at the mall instead of going out to eat. We ended up going inside the Harry and David store, where apparently we got our appetites back. We bought 2 bags of Moose Munch trail mix, a box of Mondo malt balls, a chicken pot pie and a trio of tortettes from the refrigerator in the back of the store, some crackers, and a coffee chiller mix. That should make a nice dinner when we arrived at our destination!

It was a beautiful drive up to the cabin (okay, our family calls hubby’s dad’s place a “cabin” but it is really a condo on a golf course…not exactly roughing it). We got settled in a bit before dinner and played some cards out on the balcony. After dinner, we took a ride into the nearest town (a gas station, hardware store, and mini-grocery store make up the town) and grabbed some ice cream before heading out on a walk.

Saturday morning we woke up to neither an alarm clock nor our children and enjoyed our Harry & David coffee mix and some bagels. Then we headed out to do some horseback riding. For the most part, we had a delightful time horseback riding. It was great to get up amongst the trees, enjoying the views and chatting with our guide Mitch. Hubby had a nice gentle Pintabian horse named Belle. I had an Appaloosa horse named Tootie that instantly knew that I wasn’t an authority figure. Mitch had a good laugh at my relatively frequent yelps when Tootie decided to jump, or trip over a tree branch, or walk off the trail for a tasty snack of flowers nearby. Mitch wasn’t laughing quite so hard when he realized that I was honestly terrified and beginning to tear up when Tootie wouldn’t quit hovering near the side of a cliff. Mitch tried to distract me by talking about cheese (cheese?) until Tootie meandered back to safer ground. After returning to the corral, back on the ground, I was glad to have gone riding. The fear-thing wasn’t my favorite, but I would rather go through some fear and be able to enjoy a new activity than to stay home and not be able to go.

We head back to the cabin to hang out for a bit. Hubby’s stomach was bothering him (a chronic problem for him) so I took a relaxing shower and a nap. Hubby and I watched Dirty Jobs w/Mike Rowe on TV, several episodes, and then drove into town for some dinner. We ate at a great little Mexican cantina. I had the skirt steak and grilled onions, which I LOVE, but Mexican might not have been the best choice for both hubby and I. We hightailed it back to the cabin for the safety and security of the bathroom. And there we stayed…for the rest of the evening and alternately through the night. Ahh, such togetherness. Ahh, such romance.

The next morning, our original plan of a tasty breakfast at a local hotel no longer seemed like a good idea. Dirty Jobs w/Mike Rowe was again on TV, so we nursed our weak stomachs and sore backsides (from the horseback riding, people! Don’t be gross) by sitting on the couch and not eating breakfast. Then back home for us.

Now for the annoying part. At the end of every vacation, I always tally up what we spent.

Auntie Anne’s: $6.66 Hubby’s mall snack, pretzel and lemonade
World Wraps: $3.09 My mall snack, chicken taco and water
Harry & David: $50.92 Pot pie, crackers & dip, snack mixes, coffee mix, malt balls
Grocery Store: $10.00 Soda, cream cheese, milk, bagels
Local mini-grocery: $10.00 3 coloring books for the kids, 2 ice cream snacks for us
Horseback riding: $108
Mexican cantina: $50.00 dinner
Total: $238.67

Oh, and I gave my sister $30 to take the kids to the movies, so that brings us up to $268.67.

As promised, my thoughts on the Love and Respect marraige seminar

Hubby and I attended the first of 4 classes in a marriage seminar called Love and Respect. The main gist of the material is that women primarily need unconditional love and men primarily need unconditional respect. That doesn’t mean that women don’t need respect and men don’t need love, but what we need the most from each other is different. They’ve done studies at the University of Washington that have shown that to be true, but I don’t really need a university study to tell me that. The Bible, the highest authority in my life, says it too:

Eph 5:33 So each husband should love his wife as much as he loves himself, and each wife should respect her husband.

Of course, just because I’ve read that verse a few thousand times doesn’t mean that I’m doing it well. The speaker’s name for this series is Emerson Eggerichs and he was talking about how accepted it is in our society that people need unconditional love. You don’t see many Oprah talk shows where people argue whether love should be conditional or unconditional. However, you start talking about men needing unconditional respect and you’ll get some backlash. “Respect is earned” is the primary thought. The idea that men need respect for who they are, not what they do, is an idea that needs some attention.

Eggerichs also commented that our society more negatively views male behavior in comparison to female behavior. Women tend to cry when they experience negative emotions, men tend to get angry. So, when a man and a woman have an argument and the woman starts to cry and the man walks away angry…who do we think the “bad” person is? Obviously the man with the “anger issue”.

Here is the main image they wanted to leave each person with after class 1:


Each person was asked to consider their spouses whenever they experience negative emotions in a discussion. We are supposed to say something like “Are you feeling dis-respected by me? because I’m feeling unloved by you and I’m wondering why.” Of course, hubby and I are turning this into a joke. Every time he farts, I ask “are you feeling disrespected by me? because I’m feeling unloved by you”…at which point he tries to show me his love in some vulgar fashion. It makes us laugh. Not that we aren’t taking the class seriously. We are and I can already see things that I need to work on and do differently, but the comic relief is helpful.

Apparently I'm a leather and chaps kinda girl

Well I did something today I haven't done in 10+ years...I hopped on the back of a motorcycle. I haven't spent any real time on a motorcycle since I was a kid, when I used to love to ride on long trips with my dad. Of course, dad rode a Gold Wing and hubby rides a Kawasaki KLR 650. On Dad's GoldWing, I used to take naps on the back during rides. You are so secure back there, with the back rest, sometimes arm rests, and a person in front of you to lean on. On hubby's KLR, you lean back and your butt hits the pavement.

With the kids sick, I hadn't thought I would be able to go with hubby to our first class in the Love and Respect marriage seminar. At the last moment, my dad offered to stay with the kids and I was able to jump on the bike before hubby drove out of the driveway. Such a last minute departure saved me from mentally agonizing over riding again, but it also left me a bit mentally unprepared. I spent the first 10 minutes of the ride frightened and thinking about what would happen if the kids lost both their parents in a motorcycle accident. I thought about my will and wondered if my parents would know where to find it. I thought about Suze Orman and her advice that a Living Trust is only helpful if you actually fund it by changing all your beneficiary information to include the trust...which I haven't done. I thought about my ankles. When I learned that I could go, I quickly donned jeans, a leather jacket, and tennis shoes...but my ankles were bare. I know it is true that falling off the bike would lead to much more damaging injuries than road rash, but it was what would happen when my bare ankles hit the pavement that was fixated in my mind. After about 10 minutes, we stopped going downhill, stopped going over speedbumps, stopped going on dirt roads, and were able to hit the open highway. That's when I started enjoying the ride.

I enjoyed the beautiful ride from that point on. The scents that wafted over us were amazing. The flower scents, the cow scents, the river scent, and the trees. When I drive in a car, I spend most of my time looking forward. On the back of a motorcycle, you really can't see past the big ole helmet in front of you...so you look to the side. I noticed orchards for the first time in yards that I've driven by a million times. I got to watch the kids playing little league baseball. I got to watch the people floating down the river on inner tubes.

We arrived to our class safely (I'll blog about the class in my next post) and I found myself looking forward to the ride back. The sky all the way home was a lovely shade of rosey pink -- like a pretty white zinfindel. Right at the horizon, there was a burst of yellow, making it look like there could have been a fire somewhere behind the tree line.

Oh, I learned something else too...when the wind picks up and you hit a dust storm, the headlight on the bike makes it look like there are little fire sparks coming at you. Fear not, there was no fire. =)

(Sunset picture borrowed from hickerphoto.com)

I want to be a sundress-kinda girl

Since it has been an amazing 90 degrees lately, I want to wear a sundress. I've never pulled off the sundress look well. I either feel like my chest is hanging out, or my chest is showing through, or I end up lpoking too dressed-up. Oh, and then there's the "maybe she's pregnant again" look when I wear the empire waist-line ones. This is the look I want with a pair of barely-there flat sandals:


I like this look too, but it doesn't have that same carefree comfy look the other one does:


Somebody better remind me quickly that I'm out of my June clothing budget, because I'm about to head to Target. Maybe I can sneak this into the anniversary weekend vacation budget!

It's 4:14 AM and I'm blogging

All three kids are sick. Yes, all three vomiting on the same day. Lucky me. All day I've been doing laundry: washing sheets, pillow cases, mattress pads, pajamas, towels and the occasional unfortunate stuffed animal. I've scrubbed down walls and stain treated carpets and upholstry.

What are you supposed to do with the pillows? 5 pillows now have become soiled during this round of sickness. All soiled to the point that I think they need to be thrown away. I hate to send 5 pillows to the landfill. What a bulky waste! But what else do you do with them? Thank goodness that pillows are relatively cheap to replace. Oh, I know the nice ones are $20 each, but my kiddos like the flat ones and those are $5 each.

Sweetness, my eldest daughter, was the last to fall ill. She came to my bedside at 3:30 this morning to tell me she'd thrown up in her bed. She is at least composed enough to hang out by herself in the bathroom while I clean up the mess. She even washed the flecks out of her own hair...I'm so proud!

The Big Guy had been horrible all day, so I was almost glad when he threw up in his crib at 8 pm. Better to have a sick little boy than to have a that boy be a crying mess all day and have to wonder if that is just his personality.

Spunky Girl started us off on Saturday night by ralphing all over her bed and then again last night. She'd probably be better by now if I could just get her to stick to the BRAT diet and rest...but acts like she is fine during the days and bugs me to go do stuff. I know the slip n' slide was a poor choice, but at least it got the kid out of my hair for a few minutes.

I wonder if I should try to go back to bed now. I tried sleeping at 3:45, after getting the last round into the washer, but hubby is snoring and I can't fall back asleep. Hubby is snoring because he exhausted himself fishing all day and caught NOTHING. Why would you fish from 5:45am till 10pm if you were catching nothing? Doesn't sound fun to me, but I don't begrudge him his time away or his time to sleep off the fatigue afterwards. The guy never gets time away to go play, so I'm glad that worked out for him. I'm even more glad he'll be home tomorrow (which is actually today) to help with the sick kids!

More things I'm grateful for:
* that the kids are sick now instead of in 3 days when Hubby and I are supposed to leave for a kid-free anniversary inspired weekend
* that I have a washer and dryer in my house and that I have enough spare sheets to swap on clean ones while the dirty ones are washing
* that I can call my mom in an "emergency" to hang out with the little guy in the tub while I get his crib ready for another round
* that I can turn off all the alarm clocks in the house and let the household wake up on their own

...and with that, I'm going to go try to sleep again. Nighty night.

June 1st

Anyone else notice it this morning? I don't know if it is just because it was June 1st or whether it is simply a Monday morning...or whether it is because it is Monday, June 1st the first day of Spunky Girl's summer vacation...but today feels like a "let's get a plan" kinda day.

I want to get my month organized. I want to know when I'll be celebrating Father's Day with my dad, hubby's dad, and hubby himself. I want to know what I'm going to do with my freetime (which is hardly free, but I simply mean the time that I'm no longer spending going to preschool and back). Really, I want a plan in place for the summer. I want to know the time slot I'll be getting for the kids summer swim schedule.

I've got a few plans floating around for the summer. I know I'll have marriage classes to attend for the next 4 Thursday nights: The Love and Respect series (I've heard it is good). I know I've got park playdates with Spunky Girl's friends on Thursdays at 11 am. I'm hoping to get a women's Bible class started at my church on Friday mornings in the summer. I'm thrilled to have a mother's helper one day a week, but that won't start until July. Really...that is the beginning of a summer plan. I think I need to sprinkle in a few vacations and a lot of date nights and I'll feel ready to go.

I think it will be an awesome summer. I can't wait for bbq's, beaches, and summer clothes. Speaking of summer clothes, it is once again the beginning of a new month and I've already spent my June clothing allowance. I ran into a sidewalk vendor selling jewelry and had to have this daisy necklace...and then a friend bought some clothes that she eventually decided against and sold them to me at 1/2 off (rather than returning them to the store...how could I refuse?).
I love the white top, but I'm not sure I'm keeping the white pants. I'm afraid I'll always be tugging at the back of the white pants to keep my back end appropriately covered...and that can be annoying. They may end up on ebay. Besides, do I really need a pair of jeans with the brand name of Rich and Skinny? Seems like false advertising to me!

Wow. That is a dorky pose. Well, I'll leave you with that ridicuous image. Happy Monday people.