A girl may tell herself that she is going to bed early tonight.  But said girl will still find herself working hard at 11:30, finishing stuff for a Cub Scout Camp this weekend, she may find herself preparing for the last few events for Women's Club of Manheim, Manheim's Rose Festival Weekend on June 9th - the Mannheim Market and Volksfest specifically, and she may find herself deeply emerged in PTO stuff, with too many tasks to even begin to name.

All I can say, is I appreciated teachers before, but whew....you people rock a crazy busy schedule at the end of a school year.  Thanks teachers and I need some sleep.  So Peace Out for tonight.  Now to pack lunches for tomorrow and clean up the house.  Oh I love single parenting - In the words of my neighbor's hubby tonight, "It seems like you could use a live in husband."  Yeah, you think.

All About Me

Favorite Songs:  The Call - Regina Spektor, A Thousand Years - Christina Perri
* I get that these are older, but I still am loving constantly listening them

What I've Virtually Given Up: TV
* Minus some Hulu

Favorite Number: 6

Things I believe in:  God, myself, the goodness of people, forgiveness, ghosts (spirits - call it what you want), working hard, playing harder, being exhausted at the end of each day, changing the world one good deed at a time, lust at first sight, that going out to eat can make a bad day better, my marriage's ability to withstand any trial, the saving power of the Atonement.

Favorite Color:  None
* Purple has been abandoned.  Instead each moment brings a new surprise.

What I Wish My Name Were:  Trixie or Kat

Favorite Recently Found Photo:
* Nothing makes me happier than seeing this guy happy.  Plus what a sexy beast he is.  Am I the luckiest girl in the world or what!!!

Favorite Book(if at gun point I have to pick just one):  Atlas Shrugged

Where I'm Itching to Go:  Greece, Italy

*  Bring me the food, the beach, and the men

Favorite Day of the Week:  Thursday

* I love anticipation

What I'm Most Looking Forward to:  Summer Vacation (6 wk nationwide tour)

What I'm Open To Admitting Might Exist:  UFO's, aliens, Skin-Walkers, fairies (I know this sounds crazy - I just do), time travel, a lot of logically improbable stuff - I don't want to embarrass myself too much.

Favorite Foods:  chili, bread, water, doughnuts, mint oreos, Mexican, Bajio's - Green Chile Ensalada, seafood, french fries, onion rings, all breakfast foods (grits, waffles, eggs, bacon ALL OF IT)

Easiest Way to Make My Day:  random guy checking me out/hitting on me, paying me a sincere compliment

Guilty Pleasure:  real mail, McDonalds, hiding my intelligence/acting vain and shallow (to avoid expectations), flowers, reading all hours of the night, waxing, takeout or going out to eat, trivia (Jeopardy, Trivial Pursuit), a doughnut and milk to end the day, one of my children falling asleep on me, romance novels, happy endings, long phone conversations with my sister, girls' night out, dancing, loud music, shoes, clothes, purses, a good tan, being able to love what I'm currently doing.

So what do you think, you still wanna be friends after all that???

End of Year

It's the end of the year.  I have the same bittersweet feelings that accompany any ending or time of transition for me.  I just love my life and so each chapter closing fills me with sadness, the sands of time slipping away from me never to be recovered, but only remembered.  Likewise it is sweet as I anticipate the new beginnings and endless possibilities of the future.

Issac went to Kindergarten this year and flourished under the tutelage of an excellent Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Durison-Stouch, who appreciated his every enthusiastic filled day and helped him to learn so much.  He has taken to school like a fish in water, more naturally than I could have anticipated.  This year they did this sheet.  It hung on his bedroom door all year.  But after a bout of croup this week and some serious humidifying of his room to prevent an ER trip, all the tape gave way.  I figured it was time to toss it anyway and so my picture journal of the kids school art continues to be recorded here for posterity. 

So I present - Issac (Kindergarten) age 5-6:

Issac you fill my life with unabashed joy.
Smile everyday for me and I will smile with you.

In Breaking News:

1.  The birth control came in on Saturday, before I ran out.  Hooray.

2.  I am selling a big old bird cage and a children's train table with all the parts if anyone is interested in buying them or just one or the other.

3.  Manheim had Community Days at Pleasant View.  Bella danced - May 5.  Man she is a gorgeous angel of grace.  I'll never know where it came from, but she amazes me constantly.  The boys played on bounce castles, all rode the barrel wagons, we ate junk food and won free stuff.  It was a good day.

4.  Travis was home last week.  I finally am uploading some of the pics.  The kids riding bikes, Wyatt relearns riding a training wheel free bike.  Bella and Wyatt rock climb a dirt mountain from the builders.  Travis returns to Wyoming :(

5.  Bella has an orchestra concert, two field trips, and it was a crazy busy week this past week.  So busy that my mom came over to help me stay afloat.  Aren't moms great.  She also got to see the said orchestra concert, the boys play baseball - May 10, and me run a million miles a minute.

6.  In other news I am up to six kids.  Like being single mom to four kids isn't enough, I can't help but adopt all the strays.  Having been PTO president we had an influx of neighborhood kids this year at our house.  Two have stuck.  Without going into all the details, these two probably could benefit from a little extra TLC.  I've always wanted foster kids, who needs all the paperwork and home visits when you can just do it this way.  They are over every day, eat dinner with us at least three nights a week, and wait patiently for us in the backyard for us to return home when we have gone out.  I love these boys. 

7.  Mother's Day was a lot of fun and I acquired oodles of plants and some fresh flowers too.  See my own greenhouse.

It Isn't Optional???

While Travis was home I happened to realize that I was nearing the end of my birth control packet.  Note:  if this first sentence was too much information for you.  Stop reading.  Opt out because it gets worse.  I order my birth control through the mail and get three months at a time.  So I popped below my sink for my back up stash only to discover, I was out.

That couldn't be right.  I have the automatic refill set up.  They send it when I am starting my last month.  Crap seven days to solve this dilemna.  So first thing yesterday morning I called the mail order perscription pharmacy to clear this mishap up.  And change our insurance, because we went from a company policy to our own private insurance policy.  It turns out that at the year mark when you refill your perscription they automatically remove your preferences.  Alas the automatic refill no longer exists on the account.  Seriously???  So I order it today, asking him how long until it would come in the mail and if there was any way to expedite it.  He said yes for an extra seventeen dollars...Nevermind I said, so how long normal time.  He said well it could get to you by the end of the week, but legally I am required to say 7-10 days. 

Without thinking I said, oh that's cutting it close.  He said, "Excuse Me".  I said oh it's cutting it close I have seven days left.  But I'll be fine.  Go ahead with the normal order.  And he says to me, that's crazy.  That's how you end up with surprise twins.  I replied thanks for the advice, but my hubby is out of town for the next two weeks so even with a day or two lapse, I think I'll be okay by the time he gets back into town.  I could tell he was flustered by this bit of information, but I don't care, because quite frankly I am starting to think birth control is semi-optional.  All right.  Not semi optional, but not near the Def Com 3 urgency it has been at other times in our marriage. 

So I ask all Medical professionals out there, or blogging medicine laymen, if you were to miss a day or two of birth control, how long do you think you would have to be on it again, to be in the clear?

First Visit

After more than four weeks, Travis came home Friday for his first visit.  Highlights include camping out back, s'mores, lots of pick up baseball games and practice, bike riding, family walks, movie nights, Mother's Day, shopping (I got cobalt blue skinny jeans among other things), falling asleep as a family on the living room couches and floor, me waking up stiff and going up to bed, playing until the kids were so tired, Issac got sick (croup), and we are all welcoming the rainy Monday to recover.

The airport departure this morning was a sad affair, but a jaunt back to Manheim and a visit to the gym and a Zumba class later, my endorphins are recharged despite only sleeping four hours last night and feeling quite glum about widowhood.  Pictures to come...not many and not good due to the total engagement, in the moment, play factor aspect. 

What I learned was that Travis really is my best bud.  Everything is better with him.  I don't need him, but I sure do want him and like him.  Also parenting is sometimes trickier with two people.  Entering a second opinion, and sometimes sixth opinion, to the family dynamic sure makes decision making a bit harder.  I really am not as big of a dinner person as I had previously thought.  Without Travis the kids and I have more casual dinners filled with fruit, cheese, nuts, and then kid friendly (yuck) food like hot dogs, mac n' cheese, etc...And finally I learned that Travis should not be allowed to fly unattended. 

In Gillette they found a pocket knife in his carry on bag.  They of course knew it was unintentional and since they are a small airport they let him run it back out to his car, but still add this to all the other times where I have checked him and found bullets, other knives, and his tendency to say bomb in airports he's starting to get a pesky travel reputation.

No Need For Laser Hair Removal.

Two days ago while watching Kathy Lee and Hoda while running on the treadmill, Kathy Lee teased Hoda because she had one arm laser hair removed, but hadn't had time to finish the second.  Yesterday I found the solution to her problem.  In microseconds I had removed all my arm hair.

I was making dinner for a new family in the ward, working on a big report with my daughter, getting the boys ready for scouts, and issuing chore orders to the residual children who weren't already engaged in another activity.  In retrospect too much multitasking to be sure, but so is the day in my life - the life of any mother.  I had been starting the grill without success because our automatic starter has a life and will of its own and cooperates only when it sees fit.  Yesterday was not one of those days.  So after thirty or so attempts I left the gas running, ran into the house, grabbed matches, ran back outside, lit it first, opened the lid, and tossed the match within a second - with all the busyness no time to think.

Alas I had failed to anticipate that upon opening the grill cover with an already lit match that all the gas would come pouring out.  Hence my thrown match lit the air on fire long before landing in the grill tossing and engulfing me in a rather large fireball.  Within seconds the gas had burned off through the air, the fire extinguished itself and my cat like ninja reflexes let me jump back, shut the lid and let out a little squeal.  Luckily there was no long term damage.  A little redness and tenderness on one arm that had been holding the grill lid open, but a total lack of hair as well. 

Today the burnt hair smell is gone from my arm along with the redness and any residual tenderness.  Additionally I have felt the hand of the Lord once more as I come out of this unscathed.  Because I kid you not, the fireball was a thing I have only seen in movies like Backdraft and such, prior to yesterday.  But now that I have literally been inside one, I feel very lucky.

Star Wars Day

Did you know this was a real day, like a holiday and/or a celebration? 

No, neither did I.  Until I heard it on the radio today. 

But then I popped on facebook and saw about 10 people who had mentioned Happy Star Wars Day and all that.  Including phrases such as May the fourth be with you.  Hence the day.  Oh my word.

And I can't help but think it's a wonder that these people have been mocked for decades.

Labels

Today at the gym a friend said to me, "You are so shallow."  Suffice to say there was disgust in his voice.  And to his benefit it was following my big reveal that I told Travis while we were dating that I didn't think I could marry someone who made less than $100,000 once he was established in his career.  To my benefit, I no longer believe that statement and I now know my idea of money was very distorted.

I'm a big proponent of there is never a reason to be offended.  In my mind it just doesn't fit.  I have often said, "People say things, they are either true or they aren't.  If they aren't - disregard what they've said.  If they are and you don't like what it implies, change.  If you're okay with it, then fine."  To me being offended reeks of insincerity.  Because truth be told when gym man launched "you are so shallow" at me, I had an initial reaction of shut up, followed by shock, and ouch.  I could have been offended, in my mind this is exactly the type of thing people would see as justifiable.  But...just as quickly I realized that after hearing the information he viewed it as shallow, well then according to his definition I guess I am.  And I either need to be okay with that character assessment or change what I don't like about what it implies. 

And so to every person out there I say:  Hi, my name is Mary and I am shallow.  I knew from a younger age that the things I wanted out of life wouldn't come cheap.  I knew that having lots of children, being a stay at home mom, traveling around the world, retiring young, and going on lots of church sponsored missions wouldn't be cheap.  Therefore to meet my life's goals I would need to marry someone who A) shared similar values and B) was okay with making money to support these goals.  Hence my future husband's earning potential assessment.

And in my self aggrandizing and madly delusional mind, I fancy myself a sorter, like Cassie from the book Matched.  Her natural skill set makes her a sorter.  She views large amounts of data and picks out the inconsistencies.  And I guess what I know to be true from my inflated idea of sorting expertise is that labels are a key part of making the work quicker.  They are not necessarily meant to be hurtful, offensive, complimentary or congratulatory - but a way of assessing data and categorizing information. 

So what's the purpose of this post - nothing really, I guess just another reflection of who I am and what I believe.  So if you're talking to me bring on the labels, I"m just saving the data for my gee whiz bank for use at a later date.