Ack!

My lawn furniture is starting to move across the yard.  I have a large rectangular rubbermaid lidded container, you know, the huge kind that you keep outside to store outdoor toys, like balls.  It's long lost it's lid, and is working it's way across my lanai.

I really really wish it would stop, or calm down.  Just goes to remind me that I'm not in charge and have no control.  But God is even bigger than this wind.  It reminds me of when Jesus and his disciples were on a boat and a huge storm started brewing, and Jesus was asleep.  They cried out to him, How can you sleep at a time like this?  And Jesus was like, you of little faith and he rebuke the wind and waves and it calmed down.  Even the winds and waves obey him!  Then later there was another storm and the disciples were on a boat, afraid and Jesus comes walking to them on the water!  *sigh*  That's who I'm gonna trust!

Anyway, just thinking about that helps me calm down a little.

wind!!

I'm freaking out.  This wind is really starting to scare me.  It's been windy all week, but today is the worst.  It just knocked over my huge green trash bin.  I went to the weather channel and it said 35mph gusting to 44 mph.  Feels more like gusts of 100mph.  You just can't imagine!

And this is from someone who briefly lived in Kansas!

classmate comment

yesterday, after school, we were at the playground, as we are every day after school.  One of ryan's classmates pass us by and yells out to ryan something about  how he should be home doing his sentences "because you know how you struggle with them".

What?

Why does Cooper know that Ryan struggles with his sentences?  And why is he scolding him?

I quizzed Ryan who pleaded ignorance.

So as the dutiful, concerned mama bear, I wrote a note to the teacher.  And then I spoke to her this morning.  Bless her heart, she got right to the bottom of it.  She spoke to Cooper and made him realize that if someone said something like that to him, it would hurt his feelings.  And it was Ryan's mom's decision when homework was to be done, not his.  She told me that she thought this was a good learning opportunity.  Plus she reassured me that they are not discussing classmates challenges in class.  She says she tries to create a safe environment, and one where the kids do not judge each other on their weaknesses.

You gotta love this teacher.  She is very firm and has very high standards and expectations, within a child's ability.  But she is very good at putting things in a positive light.  Goodness knows I don't have that knack.  I Know in my head what all the books say, but to do it is another thing. 

sirens

The loud, piercing sound of a warning siren blared for over an hour this morning.  Thank goodness we were already awake, because it started at 6:40 this morning.  I flipped on the tv and there was nothing on there about it.  So I thought to myself, if it were a real tsunami warning, they'd be on the news with it.  Walked the boys to school and finally, on the tv they had a tiny blurb about it being a malfunctioning siren that wouldn't turn off.  Shortly after that, it turned off.  :-)

It was concerning because the weather has been a little freaky.  Very, very windy and rainy.  In the middle of the night last night we were awakened by the rain.  Very, very hard rain.  Then, as suddenly as it started, it just stopped.  Totally stopped.  Even the dripping stopped.  No tapering off.  Weird. 

Anyway, while the tv was on (we hardly ever have the tv on in the a.m.) there was a lady on there talking about her breast cancer diagnosis.  Apparantly she is a news anchor, diagnosed with stage 2, aggressive bc and has had a mastectomy with reconstruction and will soon start chemo.  She's in her 30's, had no family history and hadn't even had a mammogram yet.  I guess she's going to publicly document her experience.  I can't remember her name, but I'm sure it can be looked up.  Not that I need any more blogs to read.  LOL!

This morning, even before this show, I was remembering back, way back.  Do you remember before there was an HGTV there was that tv show?  Home and Gardens or something like that?  It's where we first heard of Carol Duvall, and I remember one of the hosts was Christina Ferrar - and I think Susan Powter made appearances.  It was a long time ago.  Anyway I remembered they had someone who was on staff, possibly a producer or someone, who had been diagnosed with bc.  An Asian lady.  I barely remember, but I do remember that they told about the expansion process and showed a little bit of it.  I was young and really not interested in that sort of thing (what young person is?), so I don't recall much.  But it's back there in my brain.  Should I waste more time looking it up online?  No, but I probably will!  I'm just curious that way.  I don't have anything profound or interesting to say about it.  Just talking.  :-)

We're going camping this weekend with the cub scouts.  I hope the wind and rain dies down, or I'm sleeping in the car!  Ryan told me he doesn't understand girls.  He's not at all bothered by dirt.  LOL!  It's not all girls, it's his mama he doesn't understand!  Today on the walk to school he said he loved the wind messing up his hair!  LOL!  Yep, not like me at all!

calendar of events

Bear with me, or just ignore this entry.  I've been bothered that I cannot remember, off the top of my head, when I got my diagnosis.  So I've dug up some papers and old calendar and want to put down some dates.

Initial routine mammogram: June 19  Ft. Eustis, follow up mamm. June 21

Stereotactic biopsy: July 28  Tripler

followup: Aug 14  initial diagnosis

excisional biopsy:  August 24   followup: Sept. 6

MRI: Sept. 8   followup: Sept. 11

2nd biopsy and SNB: Sept. 14

it gets hazy here with the genetics test, radiology and onc visits - I'll find those later

but I definitely remember this: oct 15 the big earthquake and blackout  oct 16 mastectomy

dec. 11  fill #1

dec. 29  fill #2

jan. 19  fill #3

fill #4 scheduled for feb 5

funny little test

This is a big departure for me.  This is not my kind of test - but someone posted it on one of my groups and I have NOTHING to blog about.  Some of us are feeling down, so this might perk you up a little.  Oh, please don't email me with your fine, even though that's what it says in the instructions.  You don't have to tell me or post a comment.  I thought it would be good to open up conversation with my DH, but I think he was a little embarrassed.  again, I apologize in advance if this offends.

This is fun to do. Just read the "offense" and if you've done it,
you owe that fine. Keep going until you've read each offense and added
up your total fine. When you are done, send it back to the person
that sent it to you and your other friends. Title your email "My fine is
$....."
You don't have to confess your answers, just the amount of your
fine. 

> >1. Smoked pot -- $10
> >2. Did acid -- $5
> >3. Ever had sex at church -- $25
> >4. Woke up in the morning and did not know the person who was next
> >to you -- $40
> >5. Had sex with someone on MySpace -- $25
> >6. Had sex for money -- $100
> >7. Ever had sex with a Puerto Rican -- $20
> >8. Vandalized something -- $20
> >9. Had sex on your parents' bed -- $10
> >10. Beat up someone -- $20
> >11. Been jumped -- $10
> >12. Crossed dressed -- $10
> >13. Given money to stripper -- $25
> >14. Been in love with a stripper -- $20
> >15. Kissed some one who's name you didn't know -- $0.10
> >16. Hit on some one of the same sex while at work -- $15
> >17. Ever drive drunk -- $20
> >18. Ever got drunk at work, or went to work while still drunk --
$50
> >
> >19. Used toys while having sex -- $30
> >20. Got drunk, passed out and don't remember the night before --
$20
> >
> >21. Went skinny dipping -- $5
> >22. Had sex in a pool -- $20
> >23. Kissed someone of the same sex -- $10
> >24. Had sex with someone of the same sex -- $20
> >25. Cheated on your significant other -- $10
> >26. Masturbated -- $10
> >27. Cheated on your significant other with their relative or close
> >friend -- $20
> >28. Done oral -- $5
> >29. Got oral -- $5
> >30. Done / got oral in a car while it was moving -- $25
> >31. Stole something -- $10
> >32. Had sex with someone in jail -- $25
> >33. Made a nasty home video -- $15
> >34. Had a threesome -- $50
> >35. Had sex in the wild -- $20
> >36. Been in the same room while someone was having sex -- $25
> >37. Stole something worth over more than a hundred dollars -- $20
> >38. Had sex with someone 10 years older -- $20
> >39. Had sex with someone under 21 and you are over 27 -- $25
> >40. Been in love with two people or more at the same time -- $50
> >41. Said you love someone but didn't mean it -- $25
> >42. Went streaking -- $5
> >43. Went streaking in broad daylight -- $15
> >44. Been arrested -- $5
> >45. Spent time in jail -- $15
> >46. Peed in the pool -- $0.50
> >47. Played spin the bottle -- $5
> >48. Done something you regret -- $20
> >49. Had sex with your best friend -- $20
> >50. Had sex with someone you work with at work -- $25
> >51. Had anal sex -- $80
> >52. Lied to your mate -- $5
> >53. Lied to your mate a bout the sex being good -- $25
> >
> >Tally it up, let me know what your score was.
>

Like I said, you don't have to tell me your score.  But I'll tell you mine.  $25.60  He-he!  I know, that's low and I'm really boring.  Really, I'm very boring.  Very straight and puritanical and by-the-rules.  But I've always wanted to streak....

top chef tonight!!

Part one of a two part finale!  I'm so excited!!  They're gonna be on the big island.  There was a whole article in the paper this week about it.  Unfortunately, IMO, one of the challenges will be for them to throw a luau, in their own style.  I don't know if you've had luau food, but it's not so hot, IMO.  The kahlua pork is great, rice is good, pineapple is good and the rest not so good.  Esp. depending on what luau you go to.  Sometimes it tastes like cafeteria quality food.  Poi, nasty.  I wonder if anyone will tackle that. 

However, I'm looking forward to seeing how they use local ingredients.  I just hope they have a chance to make non-luau foods - and normal-ish foods.  Please, enough with the scallops!  Who eats scallops??  Someone makes it every week and the judges always rave.

Can you believe Elia shaved off her beautiful thick, curly black hair????  Is she nutz?  And did you see how much has already grown back??  Mine would take years to grow back just a few inches.  But she has a very pretty petite feminine face.  She pulls off the bald look well.

positive things

I'm trying to work myself out of this funk.  Kinda hard when I'm reading a book about the holocaust - but this is a really good book.  I think I'm just learning more lessons on appreciation and need to roll with it.  I have a tendency to wall up emotions.  I know, hard to imagine after I admitted to crying in church every sunday.  Oh, and I cried at Charlotte's Web and teared up at Happy Feet.  Life is not the same after cancer.

Today I felt compelled to find out more about that poor girl that I had read about who just learned of her mets. (metasta-whatever)  I didn't want to shove it to the side.  I *needed* to learn more.  And I did.  And I was feeling just awful when Ryan - who was on a media blackout (no games, no tv, no radio, nuthin - he was in TROUBLE) called me to play a board game.  I gladly broke away from the pc.  And thoroughly enjoyed trouncing my boys at the game of LIFE.  Can you say $1.7 mil?  Woo-hoo!  But sadly I had no children.  :-(

Okay, for lighter banter.  I'm gonna have to toss the avacado seed.  It's got a moldy gunk eminating from it.  Yuck.  And really no roots yet.  Meanwhile, I have bought a little parsley plant.  I couldn't find cilantro, which I love, so I bought seeds.  I have a horrible time with seeds, but what the hey.  I planted some in a little pot and some in the ground outside.  I also bought mint seeds and onion seeds.  We'll see.  Supposedly avacado seeds are EASY to grow.  Hah!  Showed them.  Mint is supposed to be easy to grow too.  We'll see.

Oh, yeah.  The last time I bought the okinawan sweet potatoes, I bought an extra little one to sprout and hopefully grow my own crop.  LOL!  Does anyone remember how to sprout potatoes?

Have you see that show Living with Ed on HGTV?  Or seen previews?  It's about Ed Begley Jr. from St. Elsewhere (IIRC).  He's really into living green and he's kinda goofy in a nerdy, quirky, sort of oldfashioned dad way.  I like it, but it comes on too late.  Anyway, there's this episode where he has this big red rain barrel to catch rainwater from his gutters.      This hits too close to home!    I have a huge plastic paint bucket sitting at the corner of my house catching drips from the gutter to water plants!  Just about like Ed!  Oh gosh.  I guess my next move will be to hook up an exercise bike to a generator to create enough energy to run a toaster like Ed!  LOL!

Of course, my impetus for doing any of this stuff is I'm cheap.  Not very altruistic.  :-)

breathe, in and out, in and out

I read bc blogs.  No, I haven't stopped like I said I would.  I should have.  One gal was listing people who have died, just this week.  Their bc metasta.....however you spell it.  They think they are fine, cancer free, going about their everyday business, but all the while cancer is setting up shop in their various organs and bones.  This blog really got to me.  I couldn't even finish reading it.  Tears are streaming down my face.  I'm picturing myself in this position.  What if cancer is eating away at me without me knowing it?  What about my kids?  What would I say to them?  What would we do?  Would I use my time doing painful, debilitating treatments, hoping it works?  Augh!  Why is this haunting me now??

I hate it.

hard time catching up

I've got too many so-called "balls in the air" - at least when it comes to online things.   I'm not going to drop this journal, but something is gonna have to go.  I have a bunch of bc blogs that I read, but not comment on.  I think I can drop those without feeling guilt.  :-)  I should spend less time on the pc anyway.  There are so many interesting things, though.  I found a website where you can plot out your route and it'll give you the mileage.  So, I can spend a good long time on that one.  Here's the link: http://www.usatf.org/routes/map/  Check it out!  It's really interesting.

Did some scrapbooking tonight.  Got two pages done.  Ugh.  I've got to make time to do more.

I got my fill yesterday.  Just 50 cc's, but boy did I feel it and va-va-va-voom!  I think I'm a B cup now!  Yesterday I was pretty sore, so before bed I took one of my prescription ibuprofens.  I got up this morning and went on my long slow walk and it began to ache again.  But by halfway though the walk, I was feeling good.  And have felt good all day.  See?  That's why I'm so crazy about walking.  It has been a really healing thing for me.  I walked for 1 hr. 45 minutes.  I felt all good and tingly for a while afterwards.  Endorphins I guess.  It's one of those "feel good" rewards for a hard job done well.

Anyway, my doc gave me the okay for doing the marathon.  He said I'd be long finished before then.  By end of April!!  He said I need 2 or 3 more fills.  He likes to overfill a little.  Then wait a few weeks before the surgery.

Before this last fill, I was getting a phantom itch, I guess you could call it.   Just a little tickling, but if I tried to scratch, I could feel anything!  How could I itch in a spot that has no feeling??  Crazy.  Well, it could drive you crazy if it were a really strong feeling.

My brother got a new job in Illinois.  Weird.  He's always job hunting, so that's not weird.  But the location is just... well, none of us have been there.  It'll be strange to have his family far away.  I know, who am I to speak?  But it makes ME feel better to have my family stable.  And my parents are talking about selling their house and moving back to the family home in Alabama and getting that fixed up.  Too many changes!  Everybody is supposed to be in NC when we retire!  Not fair!

I'm devastated

Truly devastated.  I AM an old fart.  And not just techno challenged. (which is such a cruel joke, considering that's my field of work - or used to be) 

I just got the pictures the boys took with their disposable cameras at the big island.   Well, I scanned and tried to add the picture, but it's too tiny to see anything.  Yes, I know I'm gray, but my goodness!  I look virtually white headed!  Bad lighting, I say.  I don't look nearly so grey in my bathroom mirror.   I just may have to go back to Earl.

Did anyone catch American Idol last night?  I really, really liked that one gal they had on at the end that sung "somewhere over the rainbow" (I hate that song, but you've got to catch Brudda Iz's version of it - truly awesome - little bits of it are on some commercials lately - oh yeah, I talked about this before - can't plug greatness enough!).  Anyway, this was the gal that had the really long curly hair, very pretty.  It looks like it's going to be a flake fest tonight.

But tonight my priority is Top Chef!!!!!!  They've been promising something juicy tonight.  I think one of the chef's gets kicked out.  I really hope not, but that's what it looks like.  At this time, I probably could go over to the website and find out what happened, but that would spoil it.

I go Friday to get another fill.  But I need to get new tires on the car before the long drive over the mountain there.  It gals me that the tires on our new 2005 car need changing already.  But they are almost slick and they make are horrible whoomp- whoomp- whoomp sound.

School is back in and my dander is getting up again.  I was so calm, cool and collected during the break - but homework - I swear that turns me into the mean, impatient, taskmaster.  I hate it.  *I* loved school when I was in it.  I played school when I was a child.  Why is it so different as a parent?  Why am *I* feeling the pressure?  Something's wrong here.

let's face it, I'm an old fart

*gasp*  Can I use that word on here?  Today I've been trying to set up a simple myspace blog.  Just a little simple something so I can interact with a group of us 40 somethings who are trying to lose some weight on the YOU on a Diet plan.  It was so slow and so NOT simple, I spent a whole lotta time doing nothing.  No matter what they say about AOL, these journals are EASY to start.

The diet is not going well, btw.  The girl scout cookies came the other day, they are gone as of a few minutes ago.  Evil girl scouts.  But now I have real, tangible incentive to be good.  I will be getting my cholesterol done at the end of march.  There's a date.  I've got to be good to stay off the meds. (and not get a heart attack, but the threat of heart disease doesn't seem to be imminent enough for me to get cracking)

The boys start school again tomorrow.  They've been out so very long, I hope their brains don't start sparking.    If I were a *good* mom, I would have been making them do a worksheet every day of the break.  All I have managed is to let them play way too much game boy and math twice in the four weeks and ryan has done a little handwriting each week.  Jake reads like a bandit, so I'm not worried about that.

The boys got their first birthday invite!  I'm so excited, because they were both invited.  We've been struggling with Ryan getting lots of invites, and Jake almost none.  The party is Saturday.  Next door.  Yes, the boy next door!  LOL!  She HAD to invite both of them.

And on the plus side, I got my first invite.  Well, it's an invite to all the ladies in the church to have a game night.  It's still my first.  yay!  maybe I'll make some new friends.  But you know, I've become quite the homebody.  It'll do me good to get out.

Gas on post: $2.73,  in town $2.83.   It shot up because some tax break has expired.

Did anyone catch today's Oprah?  She had Bob Greene on because he has a new book out "Best Life Diet".  She said it has 77 pages of recipes - so that might get me to buy it.  I like me a cookbook.  Does anyone else get depressed about all these diets?  Why are we such a society that cannot handle food in a reasonable manner?  I wish *I* could handle food in a reasonable manner.  How do people do it?  Howdid I do it before I hit adulthood?  I weighed 108 pounds for the longest time, then I got married.  And to think I thought I was fat then.  I wasn't fat, I was just out of shape.

pictures of our trip

Here are some of the pictures from our trip.  We were able to do almost everything we wanted except for 3 things.  One was to see the petroglyphs and the other was the walk to the lava flow.  We went as far as we could to see the steam plume, but the lava flow walk was 2 1/2 miles, and shortly after we started that, the bottom dropped out.  We had had enough rain, and me being the nervous mom, I was tired of yelling at them to be careful, so we turned around.  The petroglyphs are close to that trail, and it was still raining hard, so we decided to skip it and get supper.  We had a very full, wet day.  Oh, we also didn't get to go on the helicopter tour.  Much too rainy.

You'll notice we are bundled up.  It was in the low 60's on Kilauea, and in the 70's down near the beach.  So we had to layer.  It got down to 57, in the evenings, and who knows actually how low.  Let's just say it was chilly.  We even burned a "log".  One of those packaged ones.  We loved our little cabin.  I'm just sorry I forgot to take a picture of it.

One thing that struck me on this trip was seeing the folks in their shorts, especially the older folks.  It really was too cold for that.  But it really hit home with me.  They really "got it".  They knew that this was probably their only visit here (and who brings long pants to Hawaii??), and was determined to see what they could, even desolate black terrain, despite wet feet and numb toes.  Life is short and you've got to experience it when you have the opportunity.  Because 2nd chances are rare.  It is too easy to take it for granted.  And this really inspired me.

Another thing I thought while we were there, I was glad that Gary and I had already seen all the islands.  Because if this had been our first visit, I would have been so anxious to see everything and would have really been miserable.  Instead, I was relaxed and excited to show them things and see them get excited about it all.  It really amazed me how much these boys absorb.  We were at the visitor's center and stayed to listen to a park ranger give his talk.  I thought surely the boys weren't listening, since that sort of thing is boring for kids.  But they had really taken it in.  Ryan was even scared because he thought the Mauna Loa was really due to erupt and would head towards the welcome center - like the ranger joked.  Grrrrr.  Smart alek ranger.  LOL!

Good times!

I'm back!

I'm buried under a load of dirty laundry.  It rained the whole time we were there, so our duds are muddy!  I don't have a whole lot of time, so I'll post pictures later, but I did want to say we had a good time and the boys loved it.  I'm so glad we went.

hairdressers

I've been feeling bad about my $35 comment.  I don't begrudge hairdressers money well earned.  I think they are a hard working group of people, and I admire them and their ability to transform a person.  (and stand on their feet all day)  You couldn't make me cut someone's hair.  I just would not do a good job and I'm afraid of making someone cry.  Plus, I just don't have that artistic vision.  I"m also intimidated by hairdressers and never really tell them what I want and always hope for the best and usually go home either crying, fixing or fuming.  And I'm sure that's my fault for not piping up.  A lot of that stems from the fact that I'm not confident about my looks, especially my hair.  They are doing the best with what's in front of them.  I've really liked the last two gals I've gone to.  They did good haircuts and good color.

Anyway, I also wanted to say that I've come to see what a valuable, useful, skill they have.  When my parents went to Thailand to teach ESL, they met a missionary who was a hairdresser.  Her mission was to minister to ladies trying to get out of, ahem, prostitution.  They had a home for them to live until they could get respectible jobs and support themselves.  And part of this missionary's thing was to do their hair.  As you can imagine, a loving, hands on touch can really heal a heart.  It helps the girls feel clean and respectable.  She also cut the hair of missionaries as a part of her ministry.  When I went on my trip to Morocco, one of the ladies in our group was a hairdresser, and the spouse of our leader was also a hairdresser.  They both were needed in a big time way when dealing with the lice issue.  Of course, so were the mamas in the group who had already dealt with lice in their own children.

I just wanted to put that out there.  I don't begrudge someone $35.  But I just can't afford that every 6 weeks.  Especially if I didn't like the cut and don't feel like I can talk to them.  And that's MY issue.

what ever happened to bar soap?

I'm packing for our trip tomorrow.  Yay, a couple of days on the Big Island (Hawaii).  Cabin on the volcano!  And I realize that the boys' shower gel is a foam that I can't transfer to a little bottle.  So they are getting some of my shower gel.  Then I think, how spoiled we all are.  We don't even use soap!  (well, we do, but in the shower, we use shower gel - except when I shave I use soap)  Somehow, everything in my shower smells like fruit.  And kids stuff - EVERYTHING devoted to kids is either fruit or bubblegum.  I have the Apple mango tango laundry detergent.  Lemon in the kitchen for dishes.  And then there's the candles.  We are one good smelling society.  And spoiled rotten.

The last time I thought about this was when I was in Morocco using a squatty potty desperately wanting to wash my hair.

Top Chef is getting on my nerves.  Everyone is picking on Marcel.  If you know me, I'm the person that always roots for the underdog.  So, as annoying as Marcel is (if you believe what the challengers say), I feel sorry for him and am mad at all of them for being so mean.  I find it especially annoying that they say his dessert wasn't sexy and blah blah blah.  I hate people picking on others.  Especially as stinging as these remarks must be.  Debbie Mazar was no help...

I walked 6 1/4 miles Saturday.  I tried out a new route.  I'm so glad I found a potty and water fountain.  That really refreshed me.  How on earth am I going to walk 26.2 miles????  I was wiped out afterwards, but had that good tingly feeling for a long time afterwards. 

I'm gaining weight.  I have stopped trying to watch what I eat.  christmas really killed me.  I'm trying to be good about grains and vegetables - but I have too many sweets in the house and we've eaten out too much.  I tried on jeans the other day and they are tight.  And I have to wear them on this trip!  I guess it'll keep my poor eating down to a dull roar.

the other man in my life & avacados

I have a confession.  There is another man in my life.  And I"m not going to get all spiritual on you - that other man is a given.  But I haven't told you about this one.

Last night I went for my walk.  I had not walked the day before and I could tell on this walk.  Because his hand had a tight grip on my booblet.  Yes, when I vacuum, scrub the shower floor, or some other vigorous activity it feels like a mans hand has a tight, but not painful grip on my bosom.  LOL!  Had you going.  But it's true!  That's exactly what it feels like.  When I get a fill, it feels like his hand is laying heavily on me for a day or two.  And there's something about my position sitting in the car.  That hand is laying on me there too.

My DH is so jealous.

well, not really.  He just rolls his eyes when I talk about him.

*giggle*  I'm so goofy.

My life is so dull, this is all I have to contribute.  Oh, I'm sprouting an avacado seed.  You know how crazy I've been about guacamole lately, so this makes sense.  Too bad I won't be around when it produces.  That and the pineapples.  The next resident at this house is gonna be one lucky person!

hoomaluhia gardens pictures

We had a good time and got the car really muddy.  Ryan was a basket case at one point because I took them on a trail and it was not a well-marked trail.  It was muddy and cloudy and windy.  He said, "if it rains, it's your fault!".  I told him not to worry about it.  That he should trust me, and to stop worrying because he wasn't enjoying himself.  If it rains, we won't melt and I won't get them lost!  We passed a little shelter at one point and that made him feel better - we could huddle there if it rained.  And then, we drove to a spot where we could walk to an overlook.  We had to walk up a big hill that had a chain going across it.  I figured the chain was to prevent cars from driving up there and it wouldn't hurt just to go look.  He was so worried that we would get in trouble!  LOL! Poor guy.  I *do* understand him.  I'm just like him.  And I was a little worried, but I'm old enough to know that I can explore just a little bit to find out what the deal is - as long as I'm not putting us in danger.  And, we discovered that the overlook was actually there way up top around the corner.  It was a great view, but didn't translate well in my pictures.  The weather was too cloudy for good pictures.

Of course, when we got home I had to wash shoes and vacuum the van.  And make popcorn and unwind.  I'm still unwinding, 2 hours later!!  LOL!  On the other hand, Jake and Ryan are hyper.  THAT'S why kids are so skinny.  Endless energy.  Jake is literally, at this moment, running circles around the house.

Anyone wanna give me a haircut?  I'm not going back to Earl and pay $35 for a stinkin hair cut!  That's crazy!

I can't wait until tonight.  Top Chef is back!  I'm sick of the reruns.

 

enjoying the break

I'm enjoying having the kids home.  They don't go back to school until AFTER MartinLutherKing Jr. day.  Tomorrow I plan on taking them to a botanical gardens for a little fun.  They've been playing with the neighbor kids, which is a nice break.  Gary's been home a lot, well, Monday and today.  He had to go in to work on Saturday - grrrr - and Friday which was supposed to be a holiday.  But he's taking this Thursday and Friday off and Mon-Wed off.  We are going to the Big Island Monday through Wednesday.  We are going to take a helicopter tour of the volcano.  I'm so excited!!  I hope the boys cooperate.  They get so scared over things.  They've been concerned that the doors would be open.  The last time Gary and I went to the big island we tried to get a helicopter tour, but it got rained out.  We are going to stay in a little cabin on Kilauea (I know I didn't spell that right).  There is so much to do in just the few days we will be there.  I need to get right to planning it.  I'm really excited about being able to wear warm clothes.  It's going to get down to the 40's or 50's!!  I need to see if my jeans still fit.

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I love being a mom and I love these boys.  They are at such a good age.  They really crack me up!

Happy 2007 Y'all!!

I've tried before, but I can't figure out how to add music to my journal here...

This morning I got up and downloaded some songs and the current J. Vernon McGee lesson and went for my walk.  I did 5 miles today.  (I didn't walk at all yesterday)  One of the songs I had downloaded was a song that was used at Vacation Bible School 2 years ago - and I remember that I liked it at the time and it was peppy, but this time, the words stuck out to me.  It's not a difficult song, not a whole lot of words, but they just fit.  A great start to the new year, I think.  Here are the lyrics:

It's called Trading My Sorrows and it's by Darrell Evans

I'm trading my sorrow
I'm trading my shame
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

I'm trading my sickness
I'm trading my pain
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord

Chorus:
And we say yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord
Yes Lord yes Lord yes yes Lord Amen

I'm pressed but not crushed persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I'm blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure
And his joy's gonna be my strength

Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes with the morning

**************************************************

Last night we ran out to a local store and bought a few fireworks for the boys.  They were sooooo excited!  When we got home it was already dark and it was like driving through a firework display.  Hawaii knows how to ring in a new year, I tell ya.  So when we got home, we had to immediately set up and shoot the fireworks. 

We first got warmed up with sparklers. 

Then a fountain, more sparklers,

then a tank, more sparklers,

another fountain, the racecar, sparklers - you get the picture. 

The grand finale was a large cone fountain.  Anyway, our fireworks stank.  It was nuttin I tell ya.  We live at the end of a T intersection, so we got a good view of several neighbors fireworks.  There was a group catty corner to us who had some pretty spectacular fireworks.  They must've spent several thousand dollars.  We watched them for 2 hours, then went inside to put the boys to bed.  It died down a little until midnight.  Anyway, the boys usual bedtime is 8:30 - and they lasted until 9:30.  Well, Ryan specifically.  He's a stickler about rules and such, and kept a watch on the time.  By 9:30 he couldn't stand it anymore and asked to go to bed.  So we put the boys to bed.  Somehow they slept through the ruckus.

I watched a little tv, played a little gameboy, and Gary had gone to bed by 10:00 and was snoring at 10:30 when I checked on him.  I mosied into the bedroom at 11:30, and 45 seconds left in the countdown I shook Gary awake.  All h-e-double hockey sticks was breaking loose outside.  So I had to get up and watch the events.  It was mostly firecrackers and you could hear them from miles away.  There were two large displays, one on Waikiki beach and one downtown Honolulu.  I don't know if that was what I was hearing, but I heard something huge and far away.  I was in bed by 12:20.

I forgot how smokey and fun new years eve is here.

We saw Charlotte's Web Saturday.  It's very cute.  And of course I cried.  Ryan cried a little bit and the lady in front of us was blowing her nose.  I rate it 1 or 2 tissues.

Another Shrek movie is coming out - gag.  A Nancy Drew movie is coming out too!  Yay!  Now, if only they would put out a Hardy Boys movie!

Happy New Years everyone.