Day 48.

3rd of November 2014

Quiet day.  I'm seeing a significant change in the weather and our sunlight.  The sun is always in your face.  And if it's not in my face, it's in the kid's face and they whine like you wouldn't believe, and then I prefer that the sun would be in my face just so they stop the whining...That's how low the sun is now.  Even at it's highest, it's directly in your line of sight unless you're standing in the shadow of a building.  On the drive home from school (almost a fully set sun at 4:35 PM) the moon was beautiful and in your face (that's the theme for celestial orbs this time of year).  I was at a stop sign, I promise the car was not moving here...

And of course the picture doesn't do it justice.  At all.  But by the time we got home and I could get my nice camera it had risen high enough that it didn't seem so big and the trees were in the way.  :)

51 Days.

2014NOVEMBER6

I got to start my day with a bath!  I'm not sure I've ever done such a thing.  It was a big enough incentive to get my butt out of bed before 8am!  Not that I was productive one bit being up that early.  I lounged for about an hour reading about how Mary Carey pretty much founded Alaska with her own bare hands. And then took my sweet time getting ready for the day.  I did put laundry away (finally) so that counts as productivity!  I woke the kids up with great news - Mom wanted pancakes so we were off to Denny's!  Got to breakfast around 1030, ate and chatted with the lady in the booth next to us until noon when we offered to drive this nice lady to her hotel (her son had to leave early to prepare for his dissertation and she wanted to finish her coffee - she planned on calling a cab).  Stopped by the Auto Center on Post to fill up the wheels (as Bug would say), took Bug to school and Mr and I headed back to the Auto Center to tackle the damn tail/turn signal light issue I have been having for the past two days.  I fixed it.  I hate technology - I'll leave it at that.

The rest of our day was pretty typical.  Save for one event.  After bath-time, Bug and I went downstairs, sat in front of the fire and I brushed her hair and we talked about her day.  This is big for two reasons.  1) She hates having her hair brushed and 2) she can NEVER remember anything about her day.  Remembering something a good friend of mine (yea her) told me, I started telling Bug about her day from the moment I flipped on the bedroom light announcing we were going to go to Denny's.  She chimed in with all sorts of details, the color of her shirt that she picked out, what she ordered, what I ordered, that the Auto Center guy showed her how the bell on the counter worked, and then we got to school.  Which was my intent.  She never brings anything home from school other than really simple things like a shape she traced or a painting of "just colors".  So I'm curious.  Well this opened the flood gates.  She told me about a turkey craft she didn't get to do because her teacher was working with other kids, some building work that she went on about for almost 2 minutes, the fleece board that has African animals on it - including listing somewhere like 10 animals. I got some of it on video.  She had crawled up into my lap and started laying on my chest as she talked and talked and talked.  As excited as I was for her to let loose all of this, it broke my heart at the same time.  How long had she been waiting to do this?  How long have I been not allowing her the opportunity to tell me about her day!?  I know I struggle with connecting with her, I may have been sweeping it under the rug a little bit too.  Oh, am I done though!  New leaf starts today!

Today was a good day.  

No one fought, no one yelled (unless Mr was singing - he has no volume control).

:)

Day 47.

2Nov14

Didn't I just haul wood yesterday?  Oh yes.  I did.  This was the 1st chore of the day (after getting home from Mass).  This lead to a rather productive afternoon of cleaning and checking some things off my to do list.  Like cleaning out the car and washing the car seats.

Tonight was a little hard though.  We went to friend's house for their 30th birthday party and I was the only "single" there.  Just a little raw.  The kids had a good time and we got a cupcake out of it (and Mom didn't have to cook dinner).  Just a few more weeks and we'll be back to normal!

Day 46.

November 1st

I woke up today ready to tell Father James and our Director of Religious Education (Garrett) that they should find another Parish Administrator.  I was feeling like I had dropped the ball on too many things (really minor things) and was thinking it would be easier for everyone if someone else stepped in.  I'm glad the kids and I got to Mass a few minutes late so I didn't have the chance to say anything to Father or Garrett.  We rolled right from Mass into CCD (we have grades K-8th) and RCIA.  Once I got the teachers set up and made sure they had everything they needed I turned my attention to the kitchen and started prepping lunch with Garrett.  After classes were done, I announced that all the kids participating in the All Saints Pageant needed to get changed/prepared and back into the chapel for the big show.  I actually felt really bad at this moment because Bug told me she wanted to dress up too...which I had not prepared for - due to feeling really overwhelmed...:-( (Mom fail.)  I promised to make it up to her.  The show was absolutely adorable.  Pure sweetness.  After the pageant we had lunch for everyone: Chili, grilled cheese, and tomato soup, with a few other sides.  All the kids played, everyone sat around and chatted and had 2nds and 3rds, I felt like a proud Mama Hen!

Caitlin had her 2nd helping of grilled cheese and soup and insisted that she go sit with "the guys".  Granted they were the only ones sitting (they had all helped prep the food and were finally getting to eat), but I thought it was funny to see her at their table :)

After helping to clean the chapel, we got home and pretty much crashed.  We watched a movie then hauled wood.

A really refreshing day.  I'm happy to be apart of the parish that I am.  I'm glad they let me take care of them, I hope they think I do an okay job :)

Day 45.

Happy Halloween!

 Man, oh, man did Mom wake up in a bad mood...not sure why.  Oh well.  Life moves on - and the kids know it's Halloween and that we had plans to go Trick-or-Treating...Last thing a grumpy Mom needs is a melt down because she went back on her word.  Thankfully a friend texted to find out what time we were going to the hospital (for Trick-or-Treating) which made me feel a smidge better.

We made it out, we got through the evening.  Said hi to a few friends that we ran into.  I got a lot of people to double guess whether they knew me or not :)

Day 44.

30th of October

The final day...I expected to feel bummed today, having such a good thing come to an end.  But I realized I wasn't sad at all.  This was pretty close to the longest time we've spent together and we are by far much more like the grown adults we are supposed to be.  We have both gone through (are going through) some pretty intense stuff since the last time we were together.  The kids are old enough that we aren't bound to them and we got to be ourselves a little bit too.  This visit felt like the start of something really really beautiful.  Leanne has grown to be a type of friend I've never had before.  She's that type of best friend you had in high school where you never thought you could function without them sitting next to you in English, but we are so much more mature than high school and the level of drama in high school steals from relationships in so many ways.  We've managed to find that blistering awesome friendship that isn't hampered and effected by immaturity.  Unless we decided to let down our hair and be immature (in a responsible way, of course).

We stopped at the most awesome home baked cookie shop ever for some Halloween cookies.  From there we went to the Morris Thompson Cultural Center to take in a little more "Alaska" before we headed to the airport where the kids were excited to play with the dinosaurs at the arrival gate.  Only 3ish more weeks until they can come back and play with the dinosaurs while we wait for our really exciting arrival!

Day 43.

29 Oct 14

We had "muffins" for breakfast.  They weren't made with muffin mix though, they were made with cake mix...shhhh.

This might become a regular thing now...the muffins and the shoulder sitting...

I got to share one of my most favorite movies with one of my most favorite people tonight.  This is a movie the Hubs came home with kind of out of the blue.  I had no idea really what the movie was about and I was kind of surprised because he isn't usually a Ben Stiller fan.  I want to watch this movie all the time.  The crazy thing is that a day or two ago Leanne mentioned an idea or a concept or a belief that was almost straight out of the movie.  She's never seen the movie.  She saw it tonight when I got home from class.  I think she loved it too.  She's probably already read the book by now.  There is a fishing vessel in the movie named Erkigsnek.  It means Peace in Eskimo/Inuit.  The whole movie really comes down to peace.  Finding your peace, being at peace, understanding yours and other's.  Knowing it can take many different forms.  I feel like self-awareness is a really important and over looked concept in today's society.  If we all knew a little bit more about ourselves we'd likely more easily understand others and where they are coming from and I think we'd see a slightly happier world.  Whether you're careening down the side of a volcano on a long board with your arms open to the sky, or soaking in the bath tub hiding under 2 feet of bubbles, finding your peace is important.  Having the confidence to go out and look for it at the risk of failing and falling and stumbling and looking like an idiot.  It will all be worth it once you find your peace :)

6 Weeks.

28OCT14

Santa's reindeer, coffee, fudge and some Christmas shopping in the North Pole!  Leanne's boys got to meet Santa's reindeer via a quick video chat - they were pretty excited :)

We took a long drive back to the 'Banks to try and get to a local microbrewery only to find (after our 25 minute drive) that they were closed for 3 more hours...so we drove another 10 minutes north to a "famous" truck-stop known for it's pie.

After a late lunch we headed back to town for Leanne to get a closer look at Alaska.  

And after a really long, full day, 2nd Mom treated us (mainly me) to homemade chicken soup.  She used a rotisserie chicken.  I watched closely and want to make it all the time now.  I'd actually much rather just fly her to me so she can make it herself.  The kids obviously love having her around :)

Day 41.

Oct.27.2014

A slow start to the day due to everyone's developing sleep debt.  But we made it out to lunch at Pike's Landing for lunch.  

These two and their hats.  Bug has developed quite an affinity for her God Mother and the floppy hats she brought with her.

Leanne got the whirlwind tour of the espresso huts and Pioneer Park before resting up at home for an hour or so and then heading out to a quick Mass and bible study.

A quick bedtime and on to day 3 of my "reprieve from Single Mom life".  I'm loving living with another Mom!!

Day 40.

26th of October 2014

She came!!!  My best girly friend, my twin, my long lost replica of myself!  This woman is amazing.  I love her.

So does her God daughter :)

The Marvin is also very thrilled I brought a lady into the house who came with a lot of yarn.  Wiggly, giggly yarn.  She isn't into cats, well her sinuses aren't into cat dander to be specific.  He couldn't take the hint.

Miss Bug has been wrestling a little cough since Wednesday night.  It doesn't seem to bother her too much, but it's getting slightly worse.  I learned about a funny little animated short: Marcel the Shell because this is EXACTLY what Bug sounds like.  Auntie Leanne had her repeating phrases from this short all day, it was well worth it until Bug would laugh too hard and then start coughing...then we'd feel bad and warm up some lemon tea for her :)

We spent the day settling back into life (after our 2am stint at the airport), the kids were really ready for bed and the Moms let loose!  Wine and pretzels and caramel and white chocolate and discussions about facial hair on men that will fix all of the world's problems!

The night was perfect, until Bug woke up coughing and crying, or should I say barking and crying.  Auntie Leanne is an Mom-expert in all things respiratory and she recognized a funky breathing pattern.  I stuffed some bread in my mouth, considered a cup of coffee, packed the kindle and prepared for a long night at the ER.

The ER staff was amazing and attentive.  It was the quickest visit I've ever had in an ER and Bug handled her first breathing treatment (nebulizer) like a champ!

Home by midnight and I'm toast.  A dose of steroids following the nebulizer to keep the Croup she was diagnosed with under control.  She was always swabbed for Strep.  A long day, but a good one.  Kinda weird I had someone to come home to, even though she was totally comatose ;-)