F is for...

It's been a holiday weekend full of fun, friends, food, fireworks, Rock Band frenzy and film! A much needed break from the chaos of working life, to be sure.

Friday afternoon just before we headed across the street to our friends' for a BBQ, I asked the little man if he wanted to bring his new Guitar Hero III with us. It was one of the games he got for his birthday and hadn't tried out yet, so we scooped up the unopened box, our food, bevvies, camera and whatever else we needed and headed across. After some yummy snacks (while the ribs, yum, were cooking) the kids went and set up the game.



While having fun, it's kinda hard to play Guitar Hero III with only one guitar and three kids. I headed back to the house to retrieve the guitar from Rock Band in hopes it would be compatible. Not. So. Much. After dinner, diappointed that the guitars weren't working together, I asked the son to help me grab the remainder of Rock Band. (I'd been told the guitar from Guitar Hero worked with Rock Band - still not sure why it doesn't work in the reverse?).

Even the adults got in on it!

(You'll have to pretend there's a video here since Blogger was being a beeyotch and wouldn't load it.)

We finally found the perfect mix of talents for our band - friends' son on lead guitar, little man on bass, me on the drums, and friends' daughter singing. We played and played for hours until it finally got dark enough to head outside for the fire works (if you could really call them that considering our city banned all fireworks a few years ago). Sorry for the crappy pics but my camera was out of battery so I had to use my Blackberry.

Saturday afternoon the little man and I finally went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I have to say though it wasn't one of my favorite of the bunch, it was still good and I'm happy we saw it on the big screen rather than waiting for the DVD.

When we got home there was a voicemail from our friends inviting us over for pie. We'd discovered the pie we tried to eat the night before was still raw in the middle despite it supposedly being a fully cooked, ready to eat pie from Safeway. But in true Safeway fashion, when they returned the pie yesterday, they were given a new one (with apologies) and this time it was fully cooked and yummo! After pie and ice cream I asked if anyone was up for another round "road trip" (aka round of Rock Band) and we headed back to our house for more frenzy.

Our band name... The Goofballs!

Hope you've all had a safe and fun holiday weekend!

buying myself some weather insurance

I'm racing the clock here, even though it's Friday evening and most people are starting to unwind and relax. Don't get me wrong, I've got my beer cracked open beside me, will head up to put on my comfy flannels in a few short minutes, but right now I'm racing the clock against the building wind that's winding up outside. I figure if I get posting and all now I might buy myself some weather insurance.....ya know, the power won't go out because I've already posted. If I wait till later it's sure to screw with me.

Anyway, how was everyone's Friday? Can I tell you just how freakin' happy I am that the post holiday week is over!? Gawd the last two weeks seemed to go on forever. At the office one day, off for a couple days, back to the office again. Sheesh! With all the broken up worktime you'd think I'd be relaxed and happy, but it really seemed to be more of a PITA than anything.

I've still been reading and reading and reading all the posts ya'll have been making. Damn, where do you find so much to talk about? My comments are sparse but don't think I'm not keeping my eye on you.

Speaking of eyes, I was informed by a fairly reliable source that my last picture of my new specs wasn't truly the most flattering picture and didn't do them (or me) justice. So, I grabbed the camera this morning right before heading out the door and snapped a new one that hopefully meets with better approval. Please don't look at my hair. I can't believe how awful it's really looking these days, but hell.....what do I expect when it's been almost a year since I've cut or colored it. Yikes! Anyway, here's me again with my new specs.

TGIF!!! Cheers and Enjoy!

he's back

He's back! And look what less than a week in Southern California's done to him. LOL That's right.....my Pacific Northwest boy's turned LA hip in a few short days.

He left here the day after Christmas for a week in SoCal with his dad, visiting his side of the family, and from all accounts had a terrific time. He had a third Christmas at his grandparent's (after the one here at home, and the second one at his dad's before they left), got to see his Aunt and Uncle's, hung out with his cousin every day, had a sleepover, played the Wii, stayed up too late, ate all the wrong foods, and went to Castle Park one day. Shhh! Don't tell anyone, but I'm sure glad it wasn't Disneyland since I've got plans to take him there later this year.

As much as I like to have some "me" time, it's great having him home again. We've even fallen right back into our usual routine - me on the computer and him playing his PS2 - which is probably a good thing since tomorrow we'll be hitting the routine hard with school starting back up and me having to remember how I get myself going, ready for work, him going, fed, clothed and dropped off at school and still make it to work at a reasonable hour.

Welcome home sweet pea, Mommy missed you!

who'd have thunk a bag of mush would taste so yummy

On Monday Groove showed up in my cubicle with four bags of mush. Don't believe me? Take a look. Okay, so the bag in the photo isn't the same bag of mush he pawned off on me, but it's one of the four bags that came out of the mush making progress.

Let me explain.

Groove's wife received her bag of mush from someone at work. The bag of mush as we call it is actually the starter for what is known as Amish Friendship Bread. After making up her bread and having the requisite four starters left over she didn't know who to pass them on to since it'd been circulating around her workplace for some time. That's how I ended up with them. I in turn passed three of the mush bags on to co-workers and took one home.

It was Day 6 - time to add flour, sugar and milk.

The odor was putrid, but playing with the mush in the bag was sort of fun. Over the next four days I had to expel the air that built up in the bag while it fermented. Let me tell you, there were times I was wishing I had a gas mask. Ewww!

Friday was Day 10. I came home from work planning on making bread - until I actually read the rest of the ingredients of the recipe and realized not only did I not have enough of them to finish making the new mush bags, I most certainly didn't have the ingredients to mix up the final bread batter. I thought about heading out to the store but it was Friday night. So, I decided to leave the bag overnight and deal with it the following day. How could it possibly go bad? I mean who knows how long this starter has been added to over and over again making it's way from person to person. It's already rotten as hell, what's one more day gonna hurt, right?

Yesterday I ventured out for the grocery shopping trip from hell. Not only did we need all the regular stuff we eat, but the pantry needed restocking, I had bread ingredients to buy, Thanksgiving goodies to get, and some stuff for a potluck on Tuesday. Plus I hate grocery shopping - especially on a Saturday. But we got it all. Including the mush bag finishing items.

Last night I set into finishing this crazy project. I added my stuff, poured my four mush bags, and set off to complete the bread making. Behold the gorgeous and yummy bread that came out of a little bag of mush! I was this was going to make bread, not cake. It has the same texture, and similar taste, as pound cake. Very yummy indeed! Great, just what I need to add a little more top to my muffin. Gah!

Now the fun part - passing the bags of mush on to other unsuspecting bakers. Bwahahaha!!!

jedi master

Have I mentioned our addiction to Lego Star Wars? Here's proof of what I'm talking about.

Witness the concentration!

We take this very seriously around here. So seriously, in fact, that when we're out about town we are now seeing things that consistently remind us of various chapters in the game. Crazy! What I'd really like is to be able to have some of those special powers while at work, or driving behind the lunatics that most certainly got their driver's licenses out of a Cracker Jack's box.

Speaking of Cracker Jack's - how many of you remember those? Do they even still make them?

Okay, now I'm hungry. And tired. And parched.

G'nite

halloween's past

Halloween day the little man asked me, "What was I for Halloween when I was 3?" I started listing off from last year the costumes he'd worn every year but then got stuck and couldn't remember. So I tried going from his first costume forward but still couldn't remember. I finally gave up and told him we'd look when we got home. We did.

the sound of silence

I've spent the day by myself, in the deafening silence. Good Lord is it ever quiet here! Stacie hit the "windy city" (literally) almost two hours ago and should be arriving in the "armpit" in a few minutes. The kiddo is staying one more night at his dad's. And I sit alone.

I miss you, my friend!!

What an incredibly awesome birthday weekend this has been! The best in decades. Seriously! I can say that since I've now lived through four of them. LOL You can check out some of the fun on my Flickr site. Can't put anything too incriminating up there though, cuz what happens in WA stays in WA.

I do, however, want to show you this.

He had it done the day before my birthday. Isn't this cool? It's an original from the tat artist. I so wanted one of these to wear for my next 40 years (no, not Groove tattooed across my upper back - something else) but couldn't figure out what I wanted to have, so haven't done anything yet. If ya have any ideas, lemme know cuz I'm definitely gonna go get me one.

Anyway, the party's over and it's back to reality. Tomorrow is yet another interview with yet another (yes, this makes about six) state agency. We'll see.

Alrighty, gotta run and help keep my girl awake on her hour and a half drive home from the airport after getting only about an hour and half of sleep last night. Oh, and I'm still trying to catch up on my blog reading/commenting, so if you haven't heard from me yet, keep your panties on. I'll be there as soon as I can.

Ciao!

the airport, the birthday and silliness

What a great day yesterday! Thanks to all of you sent me birthday wishes through phone, computer or in person. It truly was a fabulous (yes, Groove, I did just use that word) day!!

So lemme back up to Wednesday night when we first picked up Stacie. Amazingly enough her flight made it on time. As we stood in baggage claim watching people come down the escalator, WJ kept saying "I think I see her" and then "Nope, that's not her!". (Remember, this was our first time seeing each other in person.) But as soon as we saw her coming down, Wesley took off running and barely let her get off the escalator, giving her a big hug, followed by me. I had my camera with me, but in all the excitement, didn't even think to pull it out and take any pics. It's too bad we didn't have a third person just standing there capturing the moment, but whatcha gonna do? We made it home by around 10:30pm and tried to get settled since Stace's body clock was three hours ahead and WJ had to go to school the next day.

Now back to yesterday. Stace went with me to drop WJ at school and we made our first Bux run of the trip. LOL Then it was time for beautifying ourselves for the day - easy for her with all that natural beauty she's got. Around 11:30am Groove showed up and we all headed out to lunch at this little place downtown called Tugboat Annie's. With a little food and lots of beer in us, we yaked and laughed and basically did what we normally do when we're on the phone together, except this time we were sitting across the table from each other. Groove dropped us back at the house just in time to go get the kiddo from school.

After letting him play with some of his friends for awhile, and introducing Stace to some of the people she hears me talking about all the time from the school, we made our way home to kick back a bit before going to dinner. She brought this crazy "hairy ball" thing for WJ, and the three of us got a little silly with it playing hot potato, making it into a hat, and pulling it over various other body parts.

Everyone was getting hungy, and the beer was wearing off, so we headed off to the Mayan for dinner. Their food is yummo!! And, of course, they serve so much we had to bring half of it home. Stace took a few goofy shots of WJ and I which is great since we rarely get any shots together. Then it was back home and time for vegging out.

Not sure what the plan is for today yet. Any ideas for us?

A 40 Year Reflective – Part II: The Last 20

Tomorrow I will turn “two twenties” as I like to call it. This is the first milestone birthday I’ve actually looked forward to since turning 21. Looking back at the last 20 years, despite major life changes (both good and bad), I can see just how much I’ve changed, grown, and finally learned to accept myself and all my idiosyncrasies.

My early twenties were spent in and out of school, trying to decide “what I wanted to be when I grew up”. I still haven’t quite figured that one out, but I’ve tried my hand at a variety of things over the years – catering, administrative support, event management, consulting. One of my major regrets is not completing my degree. With only 18 credit hours left to complete, you’d think I would have found a way to do so, but I haven’t. I keep telling myself “Someday I’ll finish”, but that someday just never seems to come. There are a million reasons why I never finished – most I don’t want to discuss here – and I have grown to accept my failure and continue to move forward despite it.

The first 29 years of my life were spent living in California. My parents, in fact, still live in the same house I grew up in. Being the wild and crazy, rebellious woman I was at that time, I met someone on-line and moved to Arizona. It was a new adventure for me, living in another state for the first time in my life, and one that (later) became a real introspective discovery.

The year after moving to Arizona, I married the man I moved for, and we began our life as husband and wife. Little did I know then how many curve balls would be thrown my way in the future. After a miscarriage early in marriage, there was a shift – one that I didn’t see then, but have spent countless hours working through in the past few years. Then, in 2000, we were blessed with the birth of our son. It was then I truly realized what “love at first sight” was. I never knew it was possible to love someone so much, without reservation. Unfortunately, it came with a hefty price – the continued distancing in my relationship with my husband.

In April 2001, through the powers of the military relocation demands, we ended up here, in Washington. A place I felt comfortable having visited countless times growing up. A place I knew would be a place to start “anew”. Only I didn’t know the whole world would be starting anew along side me on September 11th. My husband was deployed to the Middle East just 15 days before the attacks, and I was left to fly solo with a one year old toddler. It was preparation I would need for the future.

He returned the following year, and exactly a year and a day after his return, he was deployed again. After another safe return, the shift had grown to epic proportions. We were no longer a family, as family should be. We were no longer husband and wife, as partners. We were simply two individuals living different lives in the same existence. I am still uncertain whether this shift was a continuation of the shift from the early years of our marriage, or whether the perils of war were too much for us to sustain, but we didn’t sustain – and it ended.

In April 2004, ironically exactly 3 years ago today, I found myself faced with being a single parent, without more than an Associates degree, and not having worked out of the home for four years. It was the most painful, scary time of my life, feeling completely lost and alone. The one thing that was both a curse and a blessing was my son. Though I would never, ever even remotely consider him a curse, the simple fact of having him to care for and worry about prevented me from just picking up and moving on with my life without having to take his well being into consideration. But, without him, I would never be the same person I am today – stronger, wiser, more attentive.

I firmly believe that all things in life happen for a reason. It has taken me years to truly embrace that idea, but with the love and support of many friends and family, I do. Without my ex, I wouldn’t have my wonderful son. Without my son, I likely wouldn’t have met my dear friend Stacie. Without being forced to find work, I wouldn’t have met Groove, or any of the other people I still keep in contact with from my last job. And without all of these changes, both good and bad, I would not be the same woman I’ve become in my “two twenties”.

kookaburra sits in the old gum tree

Yesterday we spent the day at the Woodland Park Zoo with WJ's aunt, uncle and cousin. It's the first time we've seen them all since the Big D. They came up from California for Spring break week and are doing the "tourist" thing, so we tagged along for the day at the zoo.

The boys are about a year and a half apart in age and had an absolute blast together. They ran around, laughed, made up silly marching songs, and basically drove us adults crazy. Obviously they played their roles well. The pic to the left is just one of the various things they climbed up on and shouted, "I am King of the Mountain!"

The Woodland Park Zoo is fabulous! If you're ever in Seattle, mark it as a must see on your list of touristy stops. Even with the weather being grey and overcast, most all of the animals were out and about. You can see pics of some of them - bears, the eagle, a couple of kookaburras, and the enormous kimodo dragon - and other family pics by clicking on my new Flickr badge in the sidebar.

Here's a few more of my favorite photos from the day!