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This is Staring to Irritate Me

We had it all perfectly lined up – an early Saturday run with some good friends – a double date kind of run with two couples. We had a babysitter lined up, at our house and ready to go, and we were even running on time! We’d actually made oatmeal for the kids the night before. Definitely our A-game.

Unfortunately, the first words out of our friend’s mouth when she came in the front door were, “Do you know Matt’s tire is flat?” I didn’t know. Neither of us knew – Matt had taken my car to pick up our sitter earlier that morning. I went outside to check it out, somehow already knowing what was going to be the cause – a knife slash right through his tire. And so it was. This had happened before, a year or so ago, to a few people on our block, us included.

So we got ready to head out, figuring we’d call the police and file a report later. Somewhere in there, the guys went out to have a look at it and discovered that a charming epitaph had been inscribed on the driver door, plus a bunch more keying. It started to feel a little personal and we wondered if it might be our midnight (2AM) knocker. On the way out of the neighborhood, we went around our block and discovered two more cars that had suffered the wrath of the knife. The second one we came on also had the same charming word inscribed on the door as well as the windshield bashed in and some sharpied-writing on it. How did we know it was a sharpie? The little miscreants dropped that particular instrument at the scene of the crime.

Not wanting the evidence to disappear, Matt called the police. They would be there soon and I volunteered to stay back and wait since Matt frequently waits out my runs with girlfriends. But my wrath for our vandals increased – not only had they damaged our personal property, THEY MADE ME MISS MY RUN. A run with friends, a run I’d hired a babysitter for no less!!! Hell hath no fury.

So I waited and met with the officer and showed him what we’d found and he took statements from me and the other neighbors involved and had another cruiser go through the ‘hood to check and see if there were any more vandalized cars. He did tell me that they could probably get DNA and possibly fingerprints off the Sharpie. I told him I was all for going CSI on their asses. All things considered, it was all over with pretty quickly. When everyone got back, the guys changed the tire on Matt’s car and we got on with our day. The rest of the weekend was very nice and fairly uneventful (though we did go to an AWESOME restaurant on Sat night).

So Sunday night after we stayed up too late watching the last ep of Season2 of Downton Abbey, I was lying in bed trying to go to sleep. Matt was nearby doing whatever it is Matt does on the computer, presumably feeding his Reddit addiction. Suddenly we heard our garage door open, seemingly of its own accord. Needless to say, after all the crap that’s gone on, we’re a bit on edge with weird stuff going down around our house and so we spent the next 30 minutes trying to diagnose if this was fluke or foul play. We still don’t know. It seems remote (haha) that it was a random remote causing our garage door to go up. There is something like 1,000,000:1 odds. BUT we also have a keypad on our garage and the code has been given to a few people who if they weren’t careful enough with it, may have gotten into the wrong hands. There are also three remotes, one from each car and one programmed into Matt’s car (he has the 2nd for backup I guess) and we were concerned it had been lifted out of his car by the vandals (it was, he tells me apparently unlocked). But all remotes were accounted for and we’re still unclear on what the cause was.

Think I’m about done with this variety of excitement for quite some time.

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Accentuate the Positive

I don’t know if it’s hyper-sensitivity, but it seems like everywhere I look these days, I’m seeing comments about how people, specifically mommy bloggers are skewing their lives purposefully to make it look as though everything is perfect – that their kids never have tantrums and eat only organic locally sourced food and their houses are always spotless and their Christmas gifts nothing but homemade. I know these comments aren’t directed at me – I fly so far under the blogging radar with popularity they can’t be (and don’t get me wrong – I LIKE THIS) but these comments rub me the wrong way. Because, duh, if you look around my archives you will rarely find me saying a negative word about much of anything. My complaints are mainly about being busy/tired are about as deep as it gets. But there are some very good reasons why:

  1. I TRULY believe in the power of positive thinking, being, existing. I find that when I focus on the negative by writing about it, talking about it, dwelling on it, I get immersed in the negative and then it’s a positive feedback loop where I stay there. That doesn’t mean I gloss over or hide the bad stuff, but I deal with it and move on. This is the same reason why I don’t watch the news. It depresses me and I can’t really do much about it, so I focus on what I can control and do good in my own life.
  2. Complaining about the bad stuff just seems … petty. I have a damn good life. I am incredibly lucky and I know it. I have an wonderful circle of family and friends, a roof over my head, food to eat and even a job I like! Complaining about the small “first world problems” I have just seems petty. I’d rather celebrate the good stuff and be grateful for it instead of whining about the bad.
  3. This blog is not anonymous. I know probably 60% of my readers in real life, from family to friends to coworkers to clients to online friends who have become real-life friends. It’s great, but that being said, it doesn’t give you a ton of freedom to vent. And I’m not talking about inter-personal problems, necessarily. My kids and husband deserve some privacy and when everyone knows you and your family personally I’m not about to share private details of our lives that they’d rather I keep to myself. It’s not fair.

But just to make you feel better, some (negative) truths:

  1. I have been fighting to lose the same 10 lbs for what seems like years now. Really it’s months. Up 5 lbs, down 7 lbs, up 4 lbs, down 2 lbs. Over and over. It’s maddening and I am the only person to blame for it as I really like food way too much.
  2. My house is never clean. Ever. It is not filthy – we have someone come clean it every other week and I clean our kitchen every night, but I wage a constant battle on most other fronts. There is always too much clutter. The laundry is never done and I don’t just mean in the way that we’re wearing clothes that are currently getting dirty. I mean I usually have a load in the dryer that needs folded and a couple hanging around that are folded but haven’t been put away and frankly may never be put away. I don’t iron ANYTHING. My windows have been washed only once in the almost 8 years we’ve lived in the house and it was only the first floor ones when we painted and I didn’t even do it, my dad did.
  3. I yell at my kids. I try not to, but sometimes I do. I get impatient with them when they take too long to do things sometimes. I know it isn’t fair and I try hard to curb my reactions, but I do not always succeed. I am also LOUSY at playing make believe with them. Games? Cooking? Crafting? Yes. Playing pretend? Absolute crap. Bores me to tears. I also hate singing the same song 50 thousand times in a row. I will also occasionally put them to bed early because I am tired myself and/or I have something to do that they cannot interrupt.
  4. Loki is neglected. He gets fed, he has a small yard to play in, but he rarely goes on walks and the only time he gets bathed is when he goes to the vet to be boarded when we’re out of town. I try to make up for it with  snuggles and hiking and camping trips, but honestly, he is farther down on my priority list than I want him to be.
  5. My personal grooming is limited to clean clothes, neat hair, tinted moisturizer and lip gloss. That is all. Sometimes I feel like I should change this, but once again with the priority list.
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Vail Weekend Wrap-Up

We had a very nice weekend in the mountains. The weather was not cooperating with us and we didn’t have very much or very good snow to ski on, but in some ways that was better. We got to have lots of down time and fun hanging with our friends. We took lots of walks  and went on the great playground tour of Vail.

Sure it was still icy and wet and icky, but it was great for the kid to get out and have lots of fresh air. Our friends’ baby is 18 months old and the kids loved having a little buddy to pal around with. He is a darling little guy and so good! Matt and I got to relive some of the kids younger days while we watched him – and we loved every minute of it.

We saw some cool things while around town. Dogs, other kids, lots of buses and my personal favorite, a full-sized Volvo SUV made from Legos. IT.WAS.AWESOME.

The last day we went for a ride on the gondola to the top of the hill. It’s always a beautiful view and a fun ride. Unfortunately we timed it a bit late and we couldn’t hang around at the top of the mountain for long since the last ride down was about 5 minutes from when we got to the top, but it was getting colder anyhow so we headed down.

We mostly ate at home, but we went out to dinner a couple of times. It’s always dicey taking little kids to nicer restaurants, but we had a good time and the kids behaved themselves beautifully.

All too soon our fun had to come to an end. A snowstorm moved in on Sunday night and my parents and sister who had left earlier that evening had a nasty drive down. We had a few more drinks and nice conversation and bid our guests adieu. Luckily by the morning things were much improved and we drove down in relatively dry conditions.

Now we’re putting everything away and getting ready for the (short – yay!) week.

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Five Years … Where did it go??

Oh where oh where has the time gone? Five years. Seemingly so long, but in a blink it has gone by. She isn’t the tiny baby we brought home, but such a big, capable girl. I’d be lying if I said I wish her baby days back. I don’t. She was lovely then, so small and cuddly, but she’s so much fun now. I love the questions she asks (all 392,281 of them) and the thoughts and ideas she has. I love the way she hams for the camera; the way she asserts herself; the way she plays with her brother; the way she eagerly helps and learns new things; the way she considers others; the way she loves to read; the way she loves to dance. Never  a day goes by when she doesn’t make me smile. She is such a delight. We couldn’t be prouder to get to parent this amazing little being. And though we miss the baby she was, we’re so incredibly happy to witness the sweet girl she’s growing into.

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Blissful Blizzard

You may have heard we got a little snow. Heck, if you live W of the Mississipi and E of the Rockies in the USA, there’ s a pretty good chance you saw some snow yourself. Here it started going around 8PM on Thursday and didn’t let up until noonish on Saturday. Our area saw about 24 inches, but parts of the state saw about double that. If only my favorite ski resort had been in that second category. Ah well …

At our house we passed the time happily, playing games, reading books, napping, watching TV, shoveling and playing in snow and cooking. Matt ended our 4 weeks in The Zone on Friday and it was good timing we made some tasty treats and indulged just a leetle bit. The kids loved playing in the snow and also watching the various vehicles that were unleashed on our area to combat it. We had a little bobcat that cleared the alley and a giant front-end loaded that took care of our streets.

Despite the fact that the snow is kind of inconvenient and it kind of messed up some of my favorite running spots, I enjoyed the storm and having some nice slow days to play with my kiddos. They are way fun.

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2012 Resolutions

Isn’t this poster cute? I saw it on Pinterest and I may just have to buy it. It made me think about New Years’ Resolutions. I like them and almost always make them, even if I usually forget about them and don’t really make a very big deal about them. They flip a switch in my mind …. something to work towards and I find them useful.

My resolutions for 2011 were:

 

  • work on our grocery budget, specifically by using what we ALREADY HAVE – I will give myself a C on this … I improved in some ways, but not nearly as much as I would have liked.
  • running goals: a 5K under 28, a 10K under an hour and a half marathon under 2:15, 800 miles overall – did great with this, meeting all my race/time goals, though my mileage was quite a bit less, I feel like I worked hard at it
  • improve my general strength and specifically core strength – goal accomplished, thanks to Boot Camp!
  • read 60+ books again, mix in more non-fiction – I kind of forgot about the non-fiction part, but I hit my 60 book goal easily and read some really great stuff

So for 2012 my resolutions are:

  • running: sub 2 hr half marathon, 800 miles for the year – many people run much more than this, but this seems reasonable given my schedule
  • organization: whip my forever-messy “office” into usable shape
  • stick to our enlarged grocery budget and be in the black on our overall budget – I added some more $$ into the grocery budget because we couldn’t seem to get close to sticking to it last year; I want to try harder to see if we can this go-around
  • complete my cookbook challenge – details to come tomorrow
  • have a REAL date with Matt once a month – we do great at getting out on our own, but too often we’re working on a project; I want to be able to relax and watch a movie and have a nice meal here and there
  • have more fun family outings on the weekends – more play, less work … with the kids too; even if it’s just going to the pool or the zoo

2011 was good to us – we are truly blessed and grateful. I look forward to the promise of 2012 and intend to work hard to make it another wonderful year.

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Christmas Frenzy

We are fully in the Christmas swing of things and I confess to being a bit overwhelmed. My to-do lists even have to-do lists right now and there is an event practically every night of the week, even if it’s just a haircut. This weekend was a crazy fun blur. Friday my friend and I took the kids to see Disney On Ice. It was a huge hit in all its Toy Story 3 glory. That night, we decorated my parents’ tree with them. Saturday there was Christmas shopping, a manicure (me, yay!) and two Christmas parties. Sunday we had our friends over and fried up a turkey and chatted until late in the night.This week it’s more of the same. Haircuts, house prep, a dinner party on Thursday, Bunco Christmas party on Friday (can’t wait!). And more on the actual weekend. You can hardly read our December calendar for all of the events piled on it.

I was up until almost 11 last night (incredibly late for me on a “school night”) putting in a photo order thru Shutterfly, updating lists and sending a few final Christmas cards. The fact that I rolled out of bed at 4:45 and made it to the gym this morning was nothing short of amazing. Today I have to do grocery shopping (a 2-store event) on the way home from work and leave Matt to pick up the kids and get dinner on the table. And in the middle of it all, I have a bit of freelance work to do. I do it to myself of course, but really … what would I take away?

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So Grateful

Tomorrow I will be busy. I will be doing my normal Wednesday thing and then be busy all evening hanging with my family and cooking food for the big day. I will be encouraging Tabby to help and trying to keep Ben out of mischief. I will be counting eggs to make sure there are enough for all dishes and measuring out spices and chopping onions. I will (hopefully) be drinking wine and having a bite to eat and listening to music, or more likely, whatever DVD my son has selected.

So now, before I get too busy and forget, are 30 things (one for each day in November) that I am grateful for.

  1. My husband who is my best friend and better half. I love what a great team we make and I love that we compliment each other so well. Of course there are moments when we drive each other nuts, but it’s always short-lived and we both know we love each other beyond any silly arguments.
  2. My daughter, who is suddenly such a young lady. I love the stories she tells me, real and imaginary. I love the effort she puts into everything she does. I love the way she gets totally attached to stuffed animals. I love the way she is so patient with her little brother.
  3. My little man, Benji. He is a ball of energy and keeps me on my toes in the best way possible. I love his utter BOYNESS full of bigger, faster, louder! I love the way he wolfs down a plate of fruit in no time flat and the way he cuddles with mommy and daddy whenever possible.
  4. My original family; mom dad and sister who are numbered amongst my best friends and who give me support (including CHILDCARE) like no one else. I love that I get to share all the bits, good and bad, with them. I truly enjoy their company and feel so lucky to have them in my life on an almost-daily basis.
  5. My extended family, near and far … some are related by blood, some by marriage and others by friendship. Some I see frequently others only occasionally. All I laugh with and talk with and enjoy being with.
  6. Our wonderful sitter who takes such amazing care of our kiddos.
  7. Our sweet doggie, Loki, who minds the children very well, cleans up messes, keeps our house safe and accompanies us on our adventures.
  8. My running buddies who show up almost any given Sunday and many other days and make my long runs so much more fun.
  9. My Bunco girls and Mommy Friends and their families who provide me with many hours of fun and friendship.
  10. My gym and my awesome coach Robyn who kicks my ass in the best possible way and shows me how to be a better me than I was yesterday and pushes me gently but firmly to excel.
  11. My coworkers who make up my exceptionally pleasant and fun work environment.
  12. Good jobs for myself and my hubby that not only pay the bills but that we also enjoy!
  13. Good health for myself and those I care about and the means with which to maintain that health.
  14. The opportunity to live in Colorado, home of 300 days of sunshine a year and incredible scenery.
  15. An imperfectly wonderful country in which we live where we can pursue our dreams.
  16. A lovely, happy home.
  17. A hot shower and clean drinking water whenever I want them.
  18. Good schools for my kiddos to spend time making friends and expanding their minds.
  19. A wonderful local library system that provides me and my family with almost unlimited free entertainment and edification.
  20. Good reliable even comfortable transportation.
  21. Good, healthy food and the skills to prepare it for myself and my family.
  22. Our cleaning people who help me keep my head above water and my marriage happy.
  23. The material goods that make my life easier (mobile phone, music player, Tivo, treadmill, laptop!).
  24. Audio books – because otherwise I might never read (for reals).
  25. My excellent camera that captures lots of wonderful moments.
  26. Time spent with the people in my life.
  27. Time spent all alone.
  28. The ability to create whether it be Crystal reports, appliqued tshirts, web pages, or tasty food.
  29. Date nights with my darling hubby.
  30. A wonderfully full and busy life.