A Mom on a Mission

Out of sorts

I'm looking for a little writing therapy and so of course, to my blog I return...

Life is strange right now. So many things are effecting my psyche; some large, some small but all of them telling me that I am in a huge period of change in my life. Change that isn't gong to stop any time soon. In fact, I think that the next 3-4 years are going to be challenging, fabulous, sad, scary and when all is said and done, will shape who I become.

Without going through a specific laundry list of all of the things on my mind (I need to save something to blog about next), let's just say that I've got things on my mind like serious family illnesses, 2 teen aged boys on a daily bases, a career that is more demanding than I've ever experienced, feeling disconnected from most family members and best friends due to geography and time challenges and all of the joy that the years before menopause bring.

I know...so what makes me different than any of the rest of you?

Nothing!

So I'm hoping that you share your stories and your wisdom me and I look forward to learning about how all of you are fairing in this journey we call life.

I'm also sensing that a blog re-branding is in order...change of name and look and focus.

'Cause I don't have enough to do :0)

AHHHHH Sunday!

An absolutely beautiful February day here in the SF Bay Area. 65 degrees and sunny. This is why we pay the BIG bucks to live here, y'all.

Hubby is off doing an open house. (Did I tell you he is now a real estate agent)? Payton is off putzing around with his buddies and I'm home with Darren. I did the grocery shopping, some cleaning, stopped to play a couple of video games with Darren, gave Ronaldo a bath, cleaned some more, and now I'm breaking to do a little writing.

I love days like this. Plenty to do, but nothing that HAS to be done.

I miss blogging. Haven't done it on a regular basis since November. Lots of reasons why: the holidays, busy at work, grandfather passed away, and just your regular old stuff called life. I didn't want to force myself to blog. I don't ever want it to feel like an obligation. If it isn't a joy, I shouldn't do it. Life is too short to spend time doing something that you don't like to do. So there.

We have lots of travel coming up, but only solo trips. Hubby is going to the Seattle area to spend some time with his family and then to a Real Estate conference. Then I'm off to Boston for a recruiting trip for work, then hubby is off to Spring Training in Arizona with the guys. Somewhere in there is spring break for the boys, only they don't have it in the same week, so we can't really do anything with the extra time.

We've also had a lot of family come to visit. My Mom, hubby's Mom from Hawaii and then hubby's Dad from Washington state. We love having family with us.

Now I'm wondering what to do for dinner. Of course I didn't think about it before I went shopping, so now I've got to figure it out. But it's Sunday so I have time, energy and groceries!

What is normal?

There is no such thing as normal around here anymore...

Hubby just started a new career in real estate and the kids aren't in school and I'm working extra long hours. We haven't been to the grocery store in about 2 weeks and nobody has time to cook anything anyway.

Part of me loves the break from the "rut" but the other part of me wants something more predictable.

For now I'll just curl up in bed, read something as Dan waits for a pre-11pm phone call from his client who is trying to buy his first house.

Looking forward to going to the San Carlos farmer's market tomorrow evening. Fresh flowers, fruit, tomales, and HUGE cookies. MMMMMMM good.

OMG She's back!

I did, in fact, fall off the face of the earth.

If you asked me right now, I couldn't even tell you what my last post was about.

So, let me introduce myself, because I'm sure you all don't remember me.

I am the mom of 2 high school aged boys (funny how moms tend to equate their identity with their motherhood status first...) one freshman, one junior.

I am the loving wife of a wonderful husband who recently left his job of 15 years to pursue a real estate career.

I have two dogs, Smokey is a Dalmatian and Ronaldo is a Chihuahua. They make me smile every day.

I am an HR Manager at a really great company and my commute is a little over 2 miles each way.

I just got back from Vegas, in a few days I leave for a houseboat trip, a week after that I'm off to Mexico with the girls, and a couple of weeks after that, I'm off to Hawaii with the family and a bunch of friends from San Carlos.

Life is good, my friends...life is good.

And for right this moment, we are about to leave for dinner with a couple of friends and then off to another friend's house afterwards for cocktails. Tomorrow we go to a graduation party for the daughter of other friends (she just graduated from UCLA). Life is all about friends, family and good times.

Cheers.

Movie Night

Dan and Darren are at the Giants game. Payton and I went to San Remo's for dinner. It was yummy but over priced. I had penne past with marinara sauce and Payt had a pepperoni pizza. A very large pepperoni pizza. What a treat to have a nice dinner with my son on a Friday night. Dinner, pricey...time with son, priceless!

When we got home, he started calling around to see who he could hang out with and I brought out my scrapbooking supplies. As I worked on Payton's high school scrapbook, I also put on Notes on a Scandal. It was not at all what I expected but VERY good! Judy Dench is a master. I think Dan would have found the movie way too disturbing...the high school teacher having an affair with a 15 year old student. It was twist of why Judy Dench's character was so interested that was the good part. Brilliant.

So now I'm watching the Giant's game on TV. Tie ball game. Top of the 9th vs. the A's. Wondering how many polish dogs Dan and Darren have had.

Tomorrow, both boys have double headers. Games at 10, 12, 1, and 6 and then having some folks from the 6:00 game over afterwards. Call us crazy...

I did something today I swore I would never do...I shopped at the Dress Barn. I have always said that I would never by clothing from a BARN...but I wandered in there today and 2 blouses and a skirt later, I'm eating crow. Had to find something cute to wear to Darren's graduation next week. Can also wear in Las Vegas, Mexico and Hawaii...as well as to work.

A successful day.

Uninspired

Lamenting about my lack of creative energy, my lack of time for creative endeavors, and my lack of energy for anything of the sort.

You would think that the Mom of 2 teens would have plenty of time for fun stuff. It's not like I'm chasing toddlers around, fixing endless meals (oh, wait, sometimes I'm still doing that one), changing diapers, cleaning up cheerios and spit up etc.

I used to see Moms of older kids and wondered what the hell they did with all of that time on their hands. I still wonder that; what the hell am I doing?

So this Friday, when hubby takes D out to the Giants game (they have luxury box accommidations thanks to baseball coach's company) and P will no doubt be out galivanting around town with his peeps, I will hole up in my house with some good music and my laptop, and my scrapbooking stuff, and my latest read (a future post) and enjoy the time. I had thought briefly about doing a girls night, but we go out so much with our friends so it's a solitary night for me instead.

At least that's the way I have it planned.

Testosterone Overdose

This has been a crazy couple of weeks for Bay Area sports. The Sharks AND the Warriors are in the playoffs, and Barry is chasing the all time HR record for the Giants.

My house has been full of loudness. The cheering the yelling the woo wooing. I think that the dogs are loosing their hair.

It is a lot of fun, but the testosterone that is flowing in my house is at an all time high.

I'm feeling the need to paint my toe nails pink, watch Steel Magnolias, and shop for a cute handbag.

Anyone else out there the only female in the house? Even though I've always been quite the tom-boy, I sometimes find myself desperate for some estrogen therapy.

On the other hand, I often love being the only girl in the house, and wouldn't have it any other way. Nobody messes with my clothes or my makeup.

MIA and all that

I was gently reminded tonight that it has been over a week since my last post. My head is everywhere and I just don't even know how to bring it together in a coherent way.

Baseball season is underway and the Giants are sucking. They are winning tonight (up 6-3 in the 8th), but mostly they have not been so fun to watch. Strike that, baseball is always fun for me to watch. But it is more fun when your home boys are winning.

I'm currently reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See for my book club. LOVE IT so far! It's kind of brutal with the telling of the foot binding process (in China in the 1800's). Very well written and I can't wait to get deeper into it.

Darren is gone for the week, spending his spring break with his grandparents in Gig Harbor, WA. I'm always so thankful when my kids spend time with their grandparents. I wish all kids could have the kind of multi-generational relationships that my kids do. I miss him...the house is really quiet without him. He'll arrive back in the house on Friday and we'll have our hurricane Darren back again.

The battery on my laptop is dying. I'm ready for bed. I was at work at 7am today and I'm done. I'll start the day tomorrow on the treadmill and hopefully find some inspiration for my writing.

It's finally Friday

What a long friggin' week. I put in a lot of hours at work this week and I think that is going to be the norm for a while.

We have 2 ball games tomorrow, one with each kid. Darren (that's him in the photo) at 9:00 am and Payton at 11:00 am. I'll take Payton to get some breakfast at around 8:15 then I'll drop him off at school and make it back to Darren's game by 9:00. Around 10:50 or so I'll high tail it back to Payton's school to watch his game. I'm thinking about getting donuts to share at Darren's game (although I won't have one! :0).

So we won't get home until around 1:30 or so. I have some plants to put in the ground. I bought a few impatiens and some other stuff to start sprucing the yard up for spring. I really do feel like I need to get my hands dirty this time of year. It is therapeutic for me.

Sunday, the only thing we have on tap is going to the 1st birthday party for a sweet little girl named Lillian. Our college buddies adopted this adorable baby last year and we have been invited to a park in Los Altos for a celebration with her family and friends.

Had a REALLY great and long overdue phone call with one of my dearest friends in the world, Becky. Beck lives in Orlando with her husband, but we went to high school together back in the day and she and I have remained very tight (along with 3 other wonderful chickas) all of these years. I miss Becky. She's got a great blog over at Becky's Bizzaro...you should check it out. Nothing like a great girl-friend, am I right? I can't wait to see you this summer, babe!

It's only 9:30 and I'm ready to pack it in. Hubby is busy cleaning away...kind of a spring cleaning bing. After this week at work, I just can't bring myself to join it. I'd rather curl up with my latest read and chill. I'm reading Purple Hibiscus by Chimamada Ngozi Adichi (a Nigerian  writer that I'm REALLY enjoying). I'll do more of a review on it when I'm done. Oh, and I'm hosting book group next week!

Almost done!

The first photo is the "before" and the second is the "after"

Except for replacing the electrical receptacles and hooking the sink up to the plumbing, the kitchen is just about back to working order. This is a photo of the new counter top and back splash. I'm thrilled with the results and can't wait to actually be able to cook in my new kitchen!

Below is another angle showing more of the new counter...

You can see that one of the cabinet doors is missing and the one next to it doesn't match the other doors. We have also been replacing the doors and don't have all of the correct hinges. The small door is what all of the doors used to look like. The larger doors are the new ones.

Chaos in the Mission Home

Here I am amidst all of the chaos. The kitchen table is full of crap. Crap that would normally be on the kitchen counter that is being replaced (with glorious granite, I might add). Our old sink is in the family room, the plywood that used to be underneath the old counter is standing up next to me by the computer, pieces of the old counter top are also leaning up against the bar stools that are stacked near the computer. The dogs are stuck in the garage (because there are 5 guys here in and out of the house working on the kitchen).

And hubby is off to Scottsdale AZ for 4 days with "the guys" going to Spring Training. Did I mention I am supposed to be at work right now? Oh yeah, and Darren has been puking all morning. Joy. Oh joy.

But the funny thing is that because I am the only adult around for the next few days, I take this all as a challenge instead of just a totally frustrating annoyance like I would if Hubby were around. For some reason when I am left to the grown up, I become quite strong, quite resilient, quite patient. So it is my challenge over the next several days to get this house back in shape. To right the wrong, to put things back in their places and find a place for things that don't belong anymore (like the old sink and the old counter top). And I have two strong boys to help me make that happen. Well, maybe 1 1/2 since the younger one seems to be weak from hurling.

Once I have things put back together as much as possible, I will post photos of the new kitchen. Although it won't be completely done today; they will need to come back another day to finish the back-splash portion.

Good thing I'm taking tomorrow as a day off from my job!

Not dead, just silent

Despite what you may have been thinking, I'm not dead...I've just fallen off the face of the Earth.

I was away for 4 days and have just had so much to do and think about and stress about since my return that I let an entire week go by without so much as a peep.

Much of what I've been up to is blogable, but finding the time to organize my thoughts and post them just hasn't happened. I even missed my book group last night. But I think that salvation is right around the corner. I may even be able to find some time later this evening to post something coherent.

Question: Do I open the bottle of wine tonight? Or do I save it for the weekend?

Alive and Kickin'

No, I haven't sunk into the great abyss! I'm still here. Got caught up in life, that's all. Busy day today. After playing a few games of Frogger (dude, remember that game?) on the Xbox, I'm off with the family to West Coast Sporting Goods to stock up on baseball gear for the boys (pants, socks, cleats, jackets, jock straps, you name it). Then we may take a swing around to a granite place to look at slabs for our new counter top. Then it's back home to start priming and painting our new room that used to be our garage. We'll also try to squeeze in a trip to the movies either today or tomorrow to see The King of Scotland (time to start digging in to those Oscar flicks).

Whew!!!! Oh yeah, and I lost 3 lbs this week. Score!

Lot's of drama going on in my Mom's life. That's a whole other post. Had a parent teacher conference yesterday. Anyone who has done parent teacher conferences with a kid who has ADHD knows how stressful THAT can be. Glad it's over.

For any of you who are off to the war protests today...good for you! Thanks for speaking out. The more I hear about the soldiers who are there who are questioning why and the head of the military who have been ousted because THEY don't believe in the "new direction," the more it makes me sick that we are still loosing boys and girls over there.

Happy Saturday, y'all.

Thanksgiving Morning

We made it to my Mom's house. We've watched 4 movies so far (yesterday): Romancing the Stone, Hitched, X-men 3, and The DaVinci Code. Had pizza for dinner and went to a little cafe in Nevada City for lunch. We played some cards and a couple of new games; Scene-it and Fact or Crap. I had some Xplorador Cabernet Sauvignon (a FAB Chilean wine, thanks to Left Coast Mom and hvy TK).

This morning we are doing dinner prep. Chopping onions and celery, making cranberry spread, getting snacks ready. Football is on ALL DAY today! I've got Miami in the first game and so far so good, they are up 27-10 with 6 minutes to go in the 4th quarter.

I like this quiet Thanksgiving. It is sane. It is comfy. But then again, I'm at my Mom's house and when isn't that cozy?

I hope you all are enjoying the day as well....more later.

A peaceful night

Tonight has been the first relatively quiet night for me in a while. The kids seem to have been able to take care of themselves, with a little prompting. I was finally able to catch up on some phone calls I needed to make. Hubby had a meeting that went long. I know that sucks. They finally called Virgina for the Dems, so I didn't feel the need to have the TV on any longer.

So I prepaired for dinner tomorrow night, sent some emails that were over due, made the phone calls I needed to make. Made myself a cup of tea...deep breath...let's see, how about a beautiful photo to round out the evening...enjoy.

Maple Leaves, Fall 2006, Seattle, WA (3), originally uploaded by B Mully.

 

Boring Halloween

Sitting here on what used to be a very action-packed night...Halloween...with pretty much nothing to do. Good thing I have a fire going and hubby here to keep me company. Mom just left, she came for dinner. Great to see her.

We usually have 50+ trick or treaters. So far, it's 7:28 and we've had less than 10. We're going to have a LOT of effing candy left over. I went to Technorati to see what the top searches and tags were, wondering what folks were wanting to read about or what they were writing about. BORING! Here are the top searches:

1. Halloween
2. Wee Shu Min
3. Jotspot
4. John Kerry
5. Kerry
6. Video
7. Myspace
8. John Tierney
9. Borat
10. Amalah
11. Google
12. Reddit
13. Violent Acres
14. Wee Siew Kim
15. Ubuntu

The only thing that caught my interest was #2. Who the hell is Wee Shu Min? So I checked it out and she is some chick from Singapore who blogged about...something that sounded really boring to me...and was reprimanded for it. Now, unless "reprimanded" means something different in Singapore, it really isn't all that exciting for me.

So here I am, no trick or treaters and nothing exciting to read or blog about. Sheesh....even my dog is sleeping next to me.

It's a cookie night

Dan is making his homemade chocolate chip cookies again. He somehow does this to perfection. Every time. Here is a photo from the last time it was cookie night.

We are watching a show on the history channel about a family of Jewish dwarfs during WWII Nazi Germany, called "Standing tall at Auschwitz." Very sad and yet very interesting. It's sort of a combination between Elie Wiesel's Night and the TLC show, "Little People, Big World." I know, kind of weird, huh?

I got some painting done today. All crown molding that was put up while we were in Hawaii IN AUGUST! Better late than never. I didn't finish all of it, but I did also manage to spend some time outside in the 80+ degree sunshine cutting back some bushes in the back yard. Then we went up to watch a U13 girls soccer match. We didn't have a kid playing or anything, but Dan is the President of San Carlos United Soccer Club, and well, we just like to watch youth sports. We took Ronaldo with us and he got much attention, as usual.

Haven't seen Payton all day, or really since yesterday. He's been out and around with friends. Darren has just been hanging out with us.

We just broke open one of the bottles of wine be bought from our trip to Napa not too long ago. In case you are wondering, the 2003 Steltzner Sauvignon Blanc goes FAB with chocolate chip cookies! Just another quiet night at our house. We'd have the fire going, but with this indian summer, we decided to skip it for now. No plans for tomorrow so far. I'll be posting next week's menu, I'm sure. Maybe I'll do some surfing for new ideas.....

Slacking

I'm back from my trip to Arizona...I'll post pics soon. Feeling slugish, but glad to be home. I read 2 books while I was gone: The Birth of Venus and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. Obviously one for fun and one for work. I'll do a review of the fun one soon, too.

Off to the San Carlos Arts & Wine Faire this afternoon. We'll also be planning our weekly menu tomorrow, I'll post that as well.  Sheesh, I've got my work cut out for me.

Q&A

Got this from Cursingmama...thought it had some interesting questions. Do it for yourself if you like.   

TECH-OLOGY:

• Number of contacts in your cell phone? 43
  
• Number of contacts in your email address book? 120
  
• What is the wallpaper on your computer? My fabulous husband watching a sunset on Maui.
• What is your screensaver on your computer? Photos of my son's baseball team 
• Are there naked pictures saved on your computer? Duh! NO!
• How many landline phones do you have in your home? One too many
• How many televisions are in your home? Three too many
• What kitchen appliance do you use the least? The blender
  
• What is the format of the radio station you listen to most?  Classic Soul and R&B

BI-OLOGY:

• What do you consider to be your best physical attribute? My feet???
  
• Are you right handed or left handed? Right
• Have you had anything removed from your body? A couple of moles.
• Would you like to? Yep, take the FAT!!!!
  
• Which of your five senses do you think is keenest? Hearing
  
• When was the last time you had a cavity? I'm sure...now.
  
• What is the heaviest item you lift regularly?  My laptop bag

MISC-OLOGY:

• If it were possible, would you like to know the day you're going to die? No way
• If you could change your first name, what would you change it to? Consuela
• How do you express your artistic side? Not often enough...no matter what the medium
  
• What color do you think you look best in? Turquois
  
• How long do you think you could last in a medium security prison? As long as I had a lot of good books and a really tough "girl friend"...at least a year
  
• Have you ever swallowed a non-food item by mistake? Not that I'm aware of!
• If we weren't bound by society's conventions, do you have a relative you would make a pass at? Really...no!
• How often do you go to church? Weddings and funerals
• Have you ever saved someone's life? Nope
• Has someone ever saved yours? Literally, no. Figuratively, yes.

DARE-OLOGY:

• For this last section, if you would do it for less or more money, indicate how much.
• Would you walk naked for a half mile down a public street for $100,000? Depends on which public street...in San Carlos, not a chance...in hicksville Kansas...probably!
• Would you kiss a member of the same sex for $100? Yep.
• Would you allow one of your little fingers to be cut off for $200,000? No...don't underestimate the digits!
• Would you never blog again for $50,000? Probably not, but not definite!
  
• Would you pose naked in a magazine for $250,000? Depends on the magazine, but probably. 
• Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000? Nope. For $100,000...yep
• Would you, without fear of punishment, take a human life for $1,000,000? Wouldn't consider it for a second, under no circumstances.
• Would you shave your head and get your entire body waxed for $5,000? Nope, for $50,000...yep
• Would you give up watching television for a year for $25,000? Yep, would probably do it for $2,500.

                      

 

Tags, Planes and School

I LOVE what TypePad has done to make Technorati Tags easier to use! Instead of having to find, cut and paste the html code into my posts, I can now just type the words into the nice little field at the end of the compose page. It just doesn't get any easier than that. It's not often that something happens out of the blue to make your life easier. Oh what a joyous day. Are you with me?

The summer is winding down. Thoughts of school are starting to creep into reality. Filling out emergency forms, buying books, getting schedules, buying yearbooks, buying clothes. Buying, buying, buying. A surprise bonus for this school year for us...both boys managed to keep their backpacks in really great shape last year so we won't need to buy either one a new pack! That will save us at least $100. But pretty soon our crazy days of movies and golfing and flying around the country will be gone and the structure of schedules and homework and games and meetings will take over. I don't know if I'm happy about that or not.

My 29th 39th birthday is this Saturday. I've been really trying to ignore it, although if you ask me directly I don't think it is any big deal. My Mom was a grandmother at 41. SHUT UP! Really. Technically, I could be too, but highly unlikely. Fingers crossed, knock on wood, keep it in your pants.

Had to put Payton on a plane up to Washington by himself last Saturday. It doesn't get any easier for me to do that, although I do love that he can find his way around an airport by himself. It didn't feel right staring at that Orange Terrorist Threat Level at the security check point though. "Terror threat level high" and I'm putting my kid onto a flying bomb. Nice. I know that's all emotional, but it's there. I'm dealing with it. He got there safe and sound, of course. He flies home Friday and then his little brother gets on a plane on the following Monday. I managed to work their trips so that they would both be home on my birthday. I honestly don't remember planning it that way when I was booking the flights; I'm sure it wasn't a total accident.