Evergreen Wings and Waves

Yesterday Lawrence and I went to Evergreen Wings and Waves waterpark and had a blast.  (Sorry Mike, you had to work!)

Here are my top 10 tips to have fun:

1.  Pony up the $8 (small) $9 (medium) or $10 (large) for a locker.  You get a super cool electronic waterproof key wristband, it's great to not have to worry about your stuff, and it is way politer than hogging up a food table or chairs with your junk.  A medium was good for 2 people.  If you have a diaper bag you want to stash, better go large.

2.  Ride all 4 waterslides:  Mach 1 (fast, no tubes), NoseDive (has a drop as well as some flashing strobe lights), SonicBoom (mostly uncovered) and TailSpin (spirals).  You have to be 42" for the last three, 48" for the Mach 1.  The lines are about 10-20 minutes each during peak hours, but it's worth it to ride each at least once.

3.  Peak hours!  12-4 on a non-school day is pretty busy.  2-4 seemed to be the busiest time at the snackbar.  (impossible to find a table during that time, thanks to all the non-locker renters...)

4.  The snackbar is a little pricey.  We got a chicken strips basket (4 strips and fries) and a cup of macaroni and cheese with a small drink.  It was $10.

5.  Non-slide fun.  We actually spent most of the day NOT on the slides.  By far the best was Splashdown Harbor, a graduated wave tank that is perfectly calm for about 10 minutes. Then a siren goes off and the waves start rockin'.  It is the kind of crazy people/tubes bumping/collisions resulting in heads underwater that makes moms cringe, and kids cheer.  It seems to repeat on a 10-15 minute cycle.  Lawrence NEVER got tired of it. If your kid is under 4 feet tall, I'd be in the water with them even if they are a good swimmer unless they enjoy the rough and tumble play.

6.  More non-slide fun.  The forest / water drop area.  Basically a medium sized play structure, couple of small slides, decorated with trees and fire pipes.   The best part - every few minutes a 300 gallon bucket is tipped from a helicopter floating overhead.  It completely soaks the structure, and any unsuspecting parents who happened to wander on.   Running is dangerous in this area since there is a permanent layer of water on the ground an inch or so deep.  The ground must not be too rough though, I saw several kids go sprawling with no blood or tears.  This area had kids toddler through 12 or so all looking happy.

7.  Hot tub.  There is one!  It was a good size and people piled in.  It wasn't crazy hot, but nice. Plan on taking a break (or getting in line for the NoseDive, by far the longest line) after the tub, since all the other water (which used to seem warm) will now feel freezing.

8.  How to spend your break - downstairs there is an arcade, we bypassed this in favor of the upstairs.  There are a number of stations with hands-on brain teasers as well as a H2O mini-museum.  We love science so it was great for us, not really for toddlers and not dynamic enough to grab kids who would rather be downstairs.

9. Water is free at the snackbar, but you probably need to wait in the line.  The snackbar can also fill your baby bottle with water if needed.  Plus, they have funnel cakes ($3) and churros ($1.75 I think)

10.  Price.  Yes, it is expensive.  Kids under 3 are free, those under 42" are $25 and over 42" (regardless of age) are $30.  They do run some reduced price times during shortened hours as well as events for scouts and homeschoolers.  I was able to get 2 tickets for $39 through SharingSpree.  Evergreen Wings and Waves has a decent Facebook feed that does let you know about upcoming promotions in between gloating about the 85 degree water when there is freezing fog outside.

Anyway, we had a blast!  I definitely recommend it to families with kids 42" or taller who like water.  I'm not sure it's worth the price for smaller folk who I saw getting tired (and cranky) quickly, no way swim diapers are comfortable...  We stayed over 6 hours and definitely got our money's worth.

Sniffles

I have the hot-them-cold and always-ache-all-over sickness coming I think.  Started with sniffles but getting worse.  Our other advsior is on vacation in Maui, so I can't even call in sick.

:(


Bring on the vitamin C and purel...3 more days of work until the weekend.

Sums it up

Mike e-mailed me today:

"So many kids all over campus!  Thank you Corvallis School District for putting on "Bring Your Kid to Work Day"



This is sarcastic.  It is not a fun event, just a day when the school district and all city / public daycares are closed while OSU is business as usual so many (myself included) just drag the kiddoes to work and muddle through.

Could never be a beauty queen

My face hurts fom smiling through all my hours of work.  Sally Sunshine I am not, being this cheery is ^&%$@#* hard!   I'm told it takes more muscles to frown than smile, but it seems like gravity would help me out more with the downturn....

Tea sadness

It is a bleak day....I can see the bottom of my tin of Harney and Sons Hot Cinnamon Spice tea.  How will I survive until payday without my morning cup (or four)?  Even my office mates are sad, a full week with no fabulous morning smells from my office electric kettle.

:(

Thoughts for thinking on.

Prestige is especially dangerous to the ambitious. If you want to make ambitious people waste their time on errands, the way to do it is to bait the hook with prestige. That's the recipe for getting people to give talks, write forewords, serve on committees, be department heads, and so on. It might be a good rule simply to avoid any prestigious task. If it didn't suck, they wouldn't have had to make it prestigious.

 

It's hard to find work you love; it must be, if so few do. So don't underestimate this task. And don't feel bad if you haven't succeeded yet. In fact, if you admit to yourself that you're discontented, you're a step ahead of most people, who are still in denial. If you're surrounded by colleagues who claim to enjoy work that you find contemptible, odds are they're lying to themselves. Not necessarily, but probably.

http://www.paulgraham.com/love.html

A Poem a Day...

Archaic Torso of Apollo by Rainer Maria Rilke (translated)

# 220 on top 500 Poems User Rating: 6.4 /10 (55 votes) - vote - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Print friendly version E-mail this poem to e friend Send this poem as eCard Add this poem to MyPoemList

We cannot know his legendary head with eyes like ripening fruit. And yet his torso is still suffused with brilliance from inside, like a lamp, in which his gaze, now turned to low, gleams in all its power. Otherwise the curved breast could not dazzle you so, nor could a smile run through the placid hips and thighs to that dark center where procreation flared. Otherwise this stone would seem defaced beneath the translucent cascade of the shoulders and would not glisten like a wild beast’s fur: would not, from all the borders of itself, burst like a star: for here there is no place that does not see you. You must change your life.

On guns, football, and satellite TV

Fall is here, it is still hot on occasion, but leaves are starting to change here and there, fottball is in the air, and rifle season starts next month.

I love fall.

I loved it more back before we had satellite.  Yes, I enjoy television, far more than I should, but it seems it has become the central activity in our house now.  There is always a football game on, or else a pre-game, post-game, highlights show.  I only care about the Beavers and the Lions, otherwise I have no interest in watching.

On the rare occasion that football takes a break, three outdoor channels guarantee there will be some sort of show I completely do not understand the interest in watching on.  Let's all whisper as we stalk along on a bow hunt.  Or marvel over trick shots.  Or check out the newest, coolest guns and accessories that there is no way we actually need.

I like the stupid not-really-reality shows like tiara tots or biggest loser or hoarders.  They are great because I can watch for like 5 minutes, think "this is stupid" and then get up off the couch and just have it on in the background for noise while I do stuff around the house.  Reminds me of how totally boring, normal and not very embarrassing I am.

I would like to get rid of TV, but I am outnumbered by electronic addicted testosterone junkies.  Plus, Mike bought the TVs and pays for the monthly service, so I don't feel like I have a lot of say in the matter.

Sigh. 

Winter Count: 2001

Back in 2007 I was lucky enough to be part of a Saturday morning teachers-as-writers group with Matt Love in Newport, OR.ed

One week we did an activity modeled after a Winter Count.  Each member of the group each writes about a memorable historical event / experience that they all went through, although not necessarily together.  Our topic was 9/11 and below is what I jumbled down in a 10 minute free-write.


Blinds Drawn

Still grogy from another fitful night with the baby I collected the various pieces of my uniform, pulled my hair back and staggered to the car.  Too tired for radio, too late to stop for tea, I drove in silence to the unit.  How I hated drill mornings.  Let's all stand around in formation at the crack of dawn and discuss what we'll do as officers in the Navy.  My goal? To be more human and less ridiculous than my instructors.  So, I generally kept silent.

I had only been back from materinity leave about a month and hadn't yet adjusted to 'working', if you could call it that, again.  When I walked in everyone, meaning 10 or 15 immature guys, was talking about plane crashes and blowing up the World Trade Center.  Resolved not to listen to their video game drivel, I took out my reinforced concrete book and let confusion cloud my mind.

A while later, the Commanding Officer came in and briefed us on 'the attack'.  He stoicly stated that two planes had crashed into the twin towers and thousands of people were likely dead.  He encouraged us to go home to our families, but to stay close to the telephone.  As active duty Navy, we could be called to serve.

By the time I got home my husband knew and was glued to horrific and continuously updated coverage.  It was far away from us, and I wanted it to stay that way.   I took my son and went to the park. I did not take my phone.  It was as though our town had been evacuated - no one on the streets, houses with blinds drawn, the only life an occasional dog left outside or squirrel unaware of global issues.

We played in the grass.  I held him in my lap on the swings.  Once he fell asleep I cried all the way home.




Ten years later I am lucky that 9/11 largely did stay far away from my life.  No one I knew was killed.  I did not get pulled into active duty.  I was never sent to Afghanistan.  We have continued on essentially unaffected.  This morning I asked Lawrence if he knew why they were playing taps instead of the National Anthem before the game and he didn't know.  When I explained it, he simply said "oh yeah, I know about that.  I didn't know it was today" and walked to his room to play.

From  a wacky show “Green Wing” – 

A man proves he is ready to be "the one"  aka serious relationships

 

Question:  What does “long term” mean to you? 

His answer:  It’s an airport car park

Question:What does monogamy mean? 

His answer:  Nice dark sort of wood, sideboards.

Question:  What is the “C” word? 

His Answer:  It was only one word, and, well, let's just say he didn't go with "commitment"....


P.S. I love my job.

Curse you hunting season

I can't sleep well by myself.  :(

First day of school

Today is Lawrence's first day of fifth grade.  Kind of the beginning of the end of elementary school.  I asked him this morning what he was most excited about and he said 'eh' and gave me a shoulder shrug.  Sigh. 

As we are walking into the building he begins with the stress - I don't know where to line up here, I don't know what the bell sounds like, where to sit at lunch, do I need a waterbottle, on and on.........I swear he does not need to breathe once the worry takes over.

We took a moment to talk about how his teacher said they would take a school tour and how he could ask any questions he had.  Then I asked where he should go until the bell rang while he hid behind me.  He said he'd be okay once he had the schedule and bravely walked into the gym.

Supposedly this is the last year of public school for him for awhile.  I have said ever since I had to enroll him in kindergarten so I could work that I would never send him to middle school, that somehow I would homeschool by then.  I mean really, did ANYONE have a good experience?

And now it is so close and I still have no plan.  I mean, I have an idealistic plan, where I convince my supervisors that they should let me work from home part time.  I work in the mornings and evenings and homeschool in the afternoons.  I even have a backup plan where I somehow just go down to part-time employment, although the loss of insurance and pay is fairly terrifying.  But these aren't true plans.  Things I have really 'planned' are extensively written and scheduled, with deadlines and tasks to accomplish.  My supposed plan for being in full homeschool mode 12 months from now is really more of a dream, and one I am very worried I cannot make come true.

It always comes down to money.  Yes, we could do without telephones and cable and maybe even internet (although living 20 miles from the library, maybe not, especially if school would be largely at home...) but we can't live without paying the rent or eating or having electricity or a car (again, 20 miles from town).  If I'm not working, who pays the bills?

I don't have a good answer, and so the plan is as of yet unplanned.

New favorite show

"The Book Club"  Check it out on Hulu.

Ridiculous english highly-unbelievably-situation comedy.

How can it only be 2:45 on Thursday

165 more minutes of torture, and of course 8 hours tomorrow. 

Must escape.

A fortunate encounter

Today was a slow day at work.  This afternoon one of our international students, a young man from Saudi Arabia, wandered into my office with some questions about his transcript.  We sorted that out and started talking about his school back home, his experiences, Islam in general and for him personally.  I actually have no idea how we got around to the topics that we did.  I think it started with a discussion of the Arabic calendar, because I had to know what year he took chemistry and 1408 didn't mean much to me.  We actually looked up pictures of the pilgrimage to Mecca, and the mosque at Medina so he could illustrate some of his descriptions.

I had the courage to ask if it was hard being a Saudi Arabian in the U.S., you know with all the people with fear and hard feelings.  He told me that Americans are mostly nice, that we smile a lot, and that the ones who aren't nice are ignorant and afraid.  He even said that he understood why they were afraid, but it bothered him to be lumped in with Saddam and Bin Laden.  He gave me an insiders view of how offensive the groups are to Muslims.  He counted off the ways the extremists go against the teachings of Mohammad and stressed that the suicide bombers will not be finding themselves in Heaven anytime soon.  This student was glad to be in the U.S., but loves his home country and is looking forward to returning and serving his King with his degree (he is on a full scholarship from the monarchy).  I was repeatedly amazed by his resilience and open, honest, dialogue, which largely left me feeling uncultured and occasionally at a loss for words.

It was a very different direction that I usually lead conversations, definitely into the 'danger zone', but it was really amazing.  I can't capture everything here, but after he left my office I realized that despite all my world travel, my liberal views and my position on a multi-cultural campus brimming with events, I am still very much the white girl comfortable in my white world.  I am largely ignorant of the specifics of religions beyond my own discarded Christianity.  I have few friends, fewer that look or think different from me.  I rarely venture into situations where I might say the wrong thing or not know the proper way to act.  I want more than that for Lawrence, and for myself.

Family

I've just returned from a weeklong visit to family in Michigan.  The main reason was for a surprise 60th Wedding Anniversary party for my grandparents.

It was a troubling visit.  I no longer really 'know' any of the family.  The other cousin who has moved out of state has stayed much more connected than I have.  As a child I always secretly felt that perhaps I was a witness protection baby, sent away from my real family.  I never felt any special bond with my parents.  I didn't hate them or anything, we all just coexisted in the same space, they supported me and were interested in what I was doing.  Self-absorbed as most children are, I never considered my parents as people.

Then I moved away.  I joined the military.  I stayed away years at a time.  It honestly never really bothered me that I rarely saw my family.  We share a past and genetics (aparently that whole witness protection dream was just that) but have nothing in common.  I admit to wondering "WTF?" about a dozen times a day during my trip.  Values, experiences, goals and dreams, you name it, I am totally disconnected from them.

Now, I know they made me who I am.  I look creepily like my mom did at my age, the way I approach projects and arguments is definitely in line with the must-have-drama nature that permeated the party itself.  But I feel bad for thinking that perhaps I have outgrown my family.  I am no longer comfortable in their presence with their comments about people of color (although their descriptions are less PC), their ideas that potatoes are vegetables, and their acceptance of things like non-functional sinks and roofs covered in tarps.

And so, like the coward I am I flew back home and left Lawrence to visit for 10 days...better him than me.  I'll pay for counseling later.

Light bulb

Ever realize something super important about yourself when you least expected it?

This morning I discovered that I am not pregnant, in the usual monthly sort of announcement way.  I also discovered I was sad about it.

Not that we are trying.  We are thinking about trying in the future, but maybe end of summer would be better?  Or next year? Or sometime when it's generally less terrifying.  So, we're not trying, but this was not our most....ahem....'careful' month.  The risk was there and he had joked about it, when we knew it wasn't really a joke.

Since we aren't quite ready, it's a good thing that we're not pregnant, right?  Right.  Then why am I so disappointed?  I'm sure Mike's scare about losing his grandfather and the fact that he has been away in Arizona for a week didn't help with hormones flooding my brain, but there must be some underlying truth.

Apparently, I am ready and may even want a little wrinkly red creature to sit in a rocker with. 

I made my bed

Today I decided that I am willing to have the conversation with Lawrence someday about why I wouldn't let Henry see him.

Finally, and literally in the last few weeks, Lawrence seems to have come to terms with the fact that Henry is not a part of his life.  He made plans for Mike's Father's Day gift and has talked to me about calling Mike dad.  He has been thoughtful, honest, and obviously tortured with guilt at giving away Henry's spot.  He has repeated the same phrase to me about a dozen times in the last week:  "Mike is the dad who is around and takes care of me, so he should get the gift".

So, of course, like evil clockwork, Henry is attempting to make contact.  He can't see why I would be so angry that he hasn't been in touch, even though he went to school a 15 minute walk from our house for the last year and never approached me about a visit.  He doesn't understand why I don't trust him to follow-through and be involved, even though we have been stuck in the same pattern for SIX YEARS and he has failed to play the grownup every single time.  He is begging me to at least tell Lawrence that he wants to see him.

And now, this is where I feel like my character is tested.  Do I cave and let him see Lawrence just to avoid being that parent who kept the other away and the potential anger it could bring in later years?  Or do I stand resolved in my 'no' and accept that someday Lawrence could hate me for it?

I truly believe Henry has not changed a bit, his story certainly hasn't, and that despite his flowery apologies and promises to the contrary, he will disappear when his own life gets chaotic or seedy and will leave Lawrence wondering what he did wrong that Henry doesn't call, write, or come around.  I get left with the hard, anxious questions, the tears and the confusion.  Lawrence gets left brokenhearted, again.

Henry blames it all on me.  He is scared to contact us because I am so angry at him.  Hmmm, strange since most of my anger at him these days is because of the way he abandoned Lawrence.  Now that I am with someone who cares about me through the good and the bad, it hardly seems worth worrying why Henry was so useless and unfaithful.  That is just who he is. Chalk it up to me being young, naive, and mostly stupid. Granted, today I did yell at him on the phone, gave no quarter to his excuses, and also hung up, but he's had so many chances.

I plan to stay steadfast, to shelter Lawrence from the jerk that his sperm donor was and is, and to take my lumps as they come.  We've moved and he doesn't know it, school is out in 10 days, and I think I might just change my phone number to shut him out.  I know that is wimpy, but it's hard enough as it is without his simpering pleading texts about what I should have done to help Lawrence contact him when he was radio silent all those months.

Where are the drunken bus drivers (log truck, back hoe, whatever) when you need one to make the world a better place? 

How to break timewasting habits

Step 1:  Schedule a Move

Step 2:  Schedule eye surgery during the week of "the Move"


Between the eye being patched, the computer being boxed and life in general needing to move far faster than someone on vicodin is capable of....my facebooking/entertainment newsing/hulu/internet shopping days have ended.

The world is screwed

Today when I came back from lunch there were 6 boxes of paper stacked outside the office that had apparently been deilvered while we were closed.  There were also about half a dozen young men lounging in the hallway waiting to get in for various reasons.  As I came in I grabbed a box of the paper.  Our receptionist said to the guys "come on in, bring a box of paper with you". 

Not one brought in a box.  That's right folks chivalry is not only dead, so are common courtesy and the ability to follow directions.

I put this in the same category as college students 'meandering' across the street while cars are waiting or dropping a piece of trash, looking at it, and then continuing on their way.

Seriously, I hope this generation all get knocked up early and pop out some kids capable running the place, I have no faith in the college population as a whole to not run the world straight into the crapper while looking at the person next to them and saying 'that wasn't my job'.

Stop being so damned entitled and put forth some effort already.  My generation was always generally clueless about what being grown-up would mean, but at least we freaking hustle if traffic is piling up.  Oh, and the paper, Mike brought all the rest in before he took off for class.  What punks!

There, I am officially old.  I'm pretty sure being thouroughly unimpressed with the next generation was my last hurdle of youth.

I am a jerk

Our neighbor, who I constantly refer to as 'crazy', came over Tuesday night.  Mike answered the door, I prefer the pretending-I-am-not-home-even-though-you-can-hear-the-surround-sound-through-the-door method myself.  I mean, this is the woman who digs through our recycle bin to find treasures to stack in her garage and who sits in her yard barefoot in the dead of winter with her tiny dog wearing a sweater.

Anyway, she had her laptop and wanted to make sure that by having it open, on, and yahoo mail up her son would be able to get through to her.  She said her son was missing.

I chalked it up to crazy old lady whose son hasn't called in a day.

His body was found Wednesday morning in a local reservoir. 

Okay, so she wasn't crazy about this one thing, and it really, really sucks, but she is generally nuts.   I am not so much of a jerk that I don't feel bad for dismissing her concerns as baseless.

Roses and raspberries

No, I'm not talking gardening here.  It's a good day for a yeahs and nays (neighs? naes?NOs) list:

Roses: to electric tea kettles and leaf tea.   Mmmmm, Harney and Sons I love you.  The whole day goes better with cup and saucer on my desk.

Raspberries: to 'texturizing' hair.  I no longer have 2 hairs on my head that are the same length.  I hate paying someone to make my hair look worse.  I have to stop having ultimate faith in stylists who work at SuperCuts.

Roses: to Spring!  Cherries are in blossom, sun in my window and it's actually light out both coming AND going from work!

Raspberries: to taxes.  I held on 'til the end, but ponied up the cash to Oregon today.

Roses: to having a wonderful partner, adorable son, a car that runs, an apartment I like and a job that is flexible.  Life is pretty good.   :)


t.

The end begins with a single black hair

Yesterday Lawrence told me that he had his first black hair.  Um, okay.  Is that like getting a gray hair?  Noooooo.

He wanted to have a conversation about hair that grows- you know - in the 'crutch' area.   And so I did my best to muddle through answers about how yes there would be more and no they might not be super curly and yes he could cut them if he wanted and no he shouldn't bring up the topic in lunchtime conversation. 

Okay, sure, I guess you can talk about armpit hair.  No, I can't see any hair in your armpits yet.

No, you do not need a razor for a single hair.  You don't like how long the hair is?  It makes you feel weird and unhappy?  Um, here are some safety scissors.  Oh, you would prefer that I cut the hair?  Great. 

And so I found myself trimming a pubic hair on my NINE year old last night.  I was completely weirded out and trying to see how I could have avoided the moment with someone as straightforward as Lawrence.  He saw the whole process as fairly routine, like getting his nails trimmed.

It was hard enough talking body changes with a classroom full of alternately mortified and hysterical 5th graders.  I am so not ready for adolescence with a child who has no real sense of privacy or modesty or ability to pick up on the social cues of others.  

I've got to buck up.  No way I am wussing out and leaving a book about puberty on his pillow.

Faded memories

Today I went to a workshop which included laughter therapy - weird but it did lift my spirits.

During one part she suggested that each day we focus on a different behavior, I remember gratitude, friendliness and forgiveness.  It's only been 2 hours and I forgot the others...

Anyway.  For forgiveness she had us close our eyes and picture the face of someone we were angry or resentful or annoyed with.  I decided to go big and picture Henry.

And couldn't.

Honestly.  I can kinda picture the hairstyle he had in high school, and I know he had a missing front tooth last time I saw him.  But I can't picture him.  It was somewhat disturbing. 

So, I focussed on the hair flip and the missing tooth and went on with the excersixe where we were supposed to send 'positive energy' out toward them in the universe.  I came up with "I hope you have someplace to sleep at night".  Not exactly a wealth of generosity there.....

If I've forgotten what he looks like and I spent over a decade in intense emotion (good and bad) with him - I wonder what Lawrence has left?

When less is more...

Back in January I had great plans and set myself some deadlines, to once and for all admit that I am not a scrapbooker and to clean out the tubs of materials, put what i have together and let go of the rest.  I also planned to make Lawrence a book celebrating 10 years of life for his birthday at the same time.

How is it April already?!?!?!?

Time to get serious.  July 1 it all goes away, one way or another...

Although it has been temporarily painful letting go of things I have carried with me for years, and on rare occasions I say "oh, I used to have something that would be perfect for this", mostly once the sting of watching it go has passed, it's just extra room to breathe (and less to pack when the inevitable move comes!)

Bless the step-dads

Mike and Lawrence were hanging out yesterday and at the store Lawrence was trying out the D-word - dad.  Just tossing it at the end of sentences, telling Mike he was the best dad, daddy, dad...

Then he asked Mike if Henry was dead since he hadn't heard from him in a long time.  My sweet little tactless 9 year old boy says  "it's been so long I'm surprised I remember his  name!"

And *poof* Mike was back to being Mike.  Dad experiment abandoned.   I feel for both Mike who can't quite claim that mystical title in Lawrence's life, and for Lawrence who is struggling to reconcile what he has and what he doesn't. 

:(  frowny face moment. 

Mini-mission of the day - success

Today I deleted 5 people I didn't really know off my Facebook friends list.  I still have 71 friends, which means I have a lot of purging to do since I really only know about 10 people.

Spring Break sucks for the rest of us

Had a decent weekend with the family, lego club, OMSI, bought all the gear for Little League (no way those protective breifs cost $23 to make...) and even went to a farewell party for one of Lawrence's karate teachers.

I started planning summer and Lawrence was positively SHOCKED that his daycare costs would be about $1200.  Last year we did more specialty camps and an overnight camp and the total was more like $2500, but I won't let him know that.  This summer we are flying home to see my family and I am coming back to work and Lawrence is staying behind for spoiling with the grandmas.  He loves the idea of flying alone and hasn't done it since he was 5.

I even scheduled out our transportation plan for next term (yes, with two commuters and Lawrence in karate, baseball and bowling, we need a well-thought out plan) and it is ugly. 

So, a productive weekend, which is a good one in my book.  Now if only I got a week off like Mike and Lawrence do, sigh, back to work in the morning.

TV smiles

Okay, so this is a lame post to break my silence when I have trip and school and work and life updates, but, oh. well.

I love the new Philadelphia Cream Cheese cooking spread commercial.  It says:  "chicken, chicken, chicken.  There are a thousand ways to cook it, you know only 2 of them..."

Ha!  That is the story of my kitchen life!

Airborne

So, 48 hours from right now I will be winging my way toward Atlanta, with my final destination in North Carolina. Lawrence and I are going to visit a high school friend who I haven't seen in 8 years but who was always patiently waiting in the background and whenever we did connect on e-mail, blog or phone, it was as if we were neighbors.  She is pregnant with her fourth (final?) little one and so I just impulsively bought a plane ticket.

Not at all like me!  First, voluntarily flying - unusual.  Second, it's the first thing I've put on a credit card in 6 years.   Crazy. Now it is here, we head up to the airport hotel tomorrow after work and it's hard to believe I am actually going.  I think it will be great but I am nervous, and not just about the flight.  This is someone who hasn't really seen me since high school.  How much have I changed? Will we get along as well in person still?  Will Lawrence feel comfortable or retreat into not-so-socially-acceptable behaviors? 

Deep breaths, it's supposed to be a vacation after all!  I am excited about everything except the plane.

Two birds with one stone, or seven mice

The trundle is finally gone.  We've had a hard time getting rid of anything Mike's dad gave us to get started, but slowly it is happening.  It's a sign of success to move past the hodgepodge of hand-me-downs and thrift store purchases to a more consciously chosen grouping.  The living room was first and looks great.  Now I am working on Lawrence's room.

Mike built Lawrence this amazing loft bed back when we first moved to Albany.  We actually set the whole trundle, wheels and all, on top. It worked okay but put him really close to the ceiling.  Two weeks ago I put the trundle frame and mattress on freecycle and away it went.  Then Lawrence had a slat frame with no mattress, and nowhere to sleep (awesome planning, I know).

So this past weekend Mike cut a plywood board (sanded edging and everything) and I built a mattress.  That's right, I bought a zippable mattress cover and filled it full of all the extra blankets and comforters around the house that we just can't bear to part with.  Voila!  Organization and, according to Lawrence, the softest bed EVER.

I am lucky to have Mike to help with all my crazy DIY projects.  Plus, he sets and clears the mousetrap (ick) since little mickey and his pals moved in after the hoarder next door was forced to clean her garage out.  He is a wicked trapper and all warmed up for hunting season after 7 kills....

Bad news by e-mail

I don't know how I feel about delivering bad news by e-mail.  Mike got an e-mail from OSU today saying he hadn't been selected for Pharmacy School in the Fall.  He has been bracing for this for weeks since he wasn't selected for the first round of interviews, but it still sucks.  Now he is just waiting on Pacific and I half hope they turn him down so we don't have to move.  There is always next year.

Boldly going... (copy)

This is a copy of a post from my professional blog "theresasjourneyintoleadership.blogspot.com"


Today I did something out of my comfort zone. I sent in a proposal for a presentation at the regional NACADA (an international advising community) conference. I hate speaking in public, but for once thought maybe I had something worth saying and no one else could say it.


At OSU I am a member of the Veteran Workgroup, and it is this amazing, dynamic and tireless group of people, most of which are NOT veterans, who are working to make the experience of that particular subgroup of students better. The group around the table represents all corners of campus and has helped OSU grow to be seen as the leader in the veteran service effort in Oregon. Go us!

So, I'm part of this great process, with both success and failure behind us, with hope and challenge ahead, and I thought - it's a story worth telling. I am knowledgeable about it, and no one else from the group is going to this conference. A few succinct (yes, I am capable of being brief...) paragraphs and one click of the mouse and off it went into cyberspace.

It may not be selected. I might not have to build up the further courage to actually TELL the story out loud. But I am proud of myself for putting the idea out there and saying that I am open to the opportunity. Part of me (a fairly sizable percentage) wants to pull it back and say 'just kidding!' but it's done.

Just writing the proposal made me realize how proud I am of what this group has accomplished, I am a small player but I get to share in the greater vision and success. It's not just a meeting every third Thursday, it's shared selfless service to make the student experience better. That to me, is what advising should be about, not just confirming course selections and issuing registration PINs, but working to make a difference for individual students.

On looking busy

Today I did a little work and now am looking busy.  I have lots of program windows open and files on my desk.  I answer the phone and there are post-its everywhere, but I'm not really here.

I am walking in the rain, I am organizing boxes under the bed, I am anywhere but 18 inches from my monitor.

I'm not sick, or even tired, just uninterested.  Some days are worse than others.

Trails to nowhere

So, I am in 'training' to walk a half-marathon in April.  What this means is that I have given myself permission to leave the house - alone - for hours at a time with no list of things to accomplish.  I just strap on my shoes (thank you Mike for good ones!) and hit the sidewalk.

Yesterday my goal distance was 8.2 miles in less than 3 hours, putting me at 20 miles for the week.  I wandered Albany and found a bark chip trail.  Despite the mud and darkening skies I turned down the trail.  About a mile down the trail I knew that it was not a 'loop' and I was eventually just going to have to turn around, but trail walking is so much more peaceful and pretty than sidewalking, even if it is a bit slower.  When I got to the end of the trail, marked by a bench, I noticed a smaller footworn path continued on and followed it.  I kept following it as it grew more and more overgrown with evil clothes-snagging blackberry brambles.  I kept following it over fallen logs big enough to require a bit of climbing.  Sure enough at the end of this pathetic track was a locked gate to some kind of wheelhouse.

So I turned around and walked back, being pelted with hail and bleeding from blackberry scratches.  I had plenty of time to contemplate why a trail goes nowhere.  Drug drops? Homeless? Or was it started by one person bushwhacking to see where they could get, and then continued by people like me - somewhat lost but open to adventure?  Did I just contribute to some other poor soul battling their way to a locked fence?

Despite the icy rain, the thorns and the lack of destination, I got in 8.5 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes of blissful time to be with myself. 

I love my phone

I just discovered I can set certain contacts to always go directly to voicemail  :)   Previously I just stored everyone I didn't want to talk to under one contact called "Do Not Answer".