Kidless

Sunday afternoon, my dad came up from Red Bluff. My 3 kiddos have been bored stiff and wanted to visit their grandparents, Aunt Megan, and cousin Danyelle. (Sorry to the rest of the clan....I can't help it that they have chosen their favorites.) My dad took them home for the week. The prospect of being kidless was such a dream come true. I made out mental lists of all the projects I would get done. I decided to get my front yard completely done. Start on the backyard. All bedrooms would be completely cleaned out and organized. Hours upon hours of piano practice in. I could read at least 2 books this week without them around. I would thoroughly scour the kitchen and living area. Maybe even knit a scarf for fall. Oh, a vacation for me is really what I'd lined up. But I awoke yesterday morning, looked at the clock to see it was 6:45....groaned, thinking the kids would be getting up and causing chaos in about 15 minutes; then realizing they had been shipped out. So, I went back to sleep for another hour or so. When I finally got up I looked around and just felt really uneasy. I went outside and pulled some weeds. It got hot so I came in. I started some laundry and plopped down on the couch with a tall glass of ice water thinking in a few minutes I'll get up and get to work.....but, as I looked around and heard NOTHING! I couldn't do it. I had no motivation to work. The excitement of my kidless week had fled. I just felt LONELY! So, I spent the rest of the day on the couch. (Picture me hiding my head in shame.) Ahhh, the truth is I love having my smart mouthed, dirty faced, mess making little ones home. Without them home for one day I turned into a lazy, whiny, couch potato. Hmmmm. What a let down. Can't wait for Saturday when they get to come home.

Family & Fireworks

I haven't hung out with my cousin Mendi in years. YEARS! We were close as kids and extremely close as young adults. We were like Thelma & Louise(Ok, without the guns and thievery)....taking Chico by storm. She was in my wedding. I love her to pieces. She understood me during my years of rebellion and confusion. What people don't realize, because they tend to judge from the surface, is that I am a person who NEEDS a person to understand me and love me for me. Someone that sees my weaknesses and my strengths and loves me because of them. She was that person. She didn't personally believe some of the things that I did, but she always encouraged me to be whatever made me happy...One day I figured it out on my own. I decided to be committed to my faith.

And here I am now, living it the best that I can. I moved on and she supported me in that. None of my other friends did. It says alot about her. (BTW, I really did mean for this to be a post about all the fun we had on the 4th. I guess I've been needing to get this out.)

I saw Mendi at my Grandpa's funeral. We talked about plans for the 4th of July. I admit, I was hesitant to commit for various reasons. But, any prior commitments or apprehensions were second to the overwhelming excitement I felt to reconnect with my dear cousin.

So, we packed up the trailer. Loaded the kids, the 2 dogs(we got Ramsey the night before we left), the toad's and their tank, the tree frogs and their tank, a bunch of crickets and fruit flies and headed up to my old stomping ground....the beautiful Lake Almanor. My body hasn't seen so much sun in 12 years. I love being tan again. I forgot how amazing it feels. We swam in the lake. We laid on the beach. We ate way too much junk food. We watched the fireworks off the peninsula. It was amazing.





The kids had so much fun playing with their 2nd cousins that they hardly knew. They connected like they had grown up together. It warmed my heart to see this. It reminded me of my younger years when I played the same way with my cousins. We shared our holidays. We were ALL together. Time, distance, and maybe a few other differences eroded this. It's always left me a little disheartened. This weekend meant so much to me. And it was SO SO SO fun!! I think our new tradition will be to spend the 4th up at Lake Almanor....but, next year I will make sure my air mattress doesn't have a hole.

Ramsey

I would like to introduce you all to our newest family member, Ramsey. He's a 7 month old Golden Retriever that we adopted from a family who could no longer provide a home for him. Yes, I've clearly lost my mind to have agreed to this. And YES, I did agree. Bruce did not push me. He really didn't have to. Ramsey is so cute and sweet that I caved with almost no pressure. I'm getting so weak in my older age. So, when you come to my house remember 2 things: 1)take allergy meds if needed 2) My house will be in complete disarray while I try to deal with the mess of two dogs shedding everywhere & the rest of the puppy years. Please pray for me. The increased poop in the yard alone might drive me mad. But, for now, all is well....we love our new pup, Ramsey.

Chocolate Cake

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My birthday has come and gone. It's been a full month. That makes it seem like ages ago. So last night when I hosted our Live, Laugh, Love club I didn't give it a thought. I made Thai Chicken Salad for the girls. Debbie called earlier in the day to offer dessert. She was concerned I might think she was overstepping....I assured her that I gladly give up dessert duty. I do not usually enjoy baking and often don't even consider dessert when meal planning. People judge me for that, I know. But, if Dan & Kayleen Boone were your parents you would understand. We began our meeting as usual, although 2 ladies less. Ashley had other "obligations" and poor Georgia came down with a nasty migraine. We were bummed to miss them. We were supposed to be surprising Ashley with her birthday gift and looking forward to Georgia bringing her sister to meet us. Anyway, Debbie, Denise, Molly and I sat down for dinner and laughed our pants off! I went into the kitchen for a brief moment and came back to find the 3 girls in a bustle. Party glasses and horns, hats and the chocolate cake. Not the Debbie's homemade cake she told me of. The Ettore's cake. Oh me oh my!! The chocolate cake......give me second to cool down. It was so beautifully written on, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! TANJA & ASHLEY! (Debbie was a great little liar, I must say!)


Poor Ashley, missed the cake. I got it all to myself.......yuuuuummmmm!

And I got a precious 1 hour massage.

I must say, turning 32 has been the gift that keeps on giving. My party alone was plenty wonderful. Even for me who expects excitement and bliss on my big day. Then, I got a few after presents....a wonderful brown summer dress, a box full of reusable shopping bags, a check in the mail, and now; a whole month later, a massage and chocolate cake!

I'm getting older now, it's true. Some things are inevitable. My girls might sway, my eyelids may droop, my tummy may be in need of a tuck, and my cakes sag....but that chocolate cake....made 32 absolutely blissful!