Simple Woman's Daybook Entry

 

 

Outside my window... It is overcast and the current temp is 59F.  Love it!  I've got every window open so I can air out the house.  It looks like we are going to have cooler temps for awhile - so unusual for Colorado this time of year.  I hate the heat, so I am loving this!  What I am not loving, however, is the humidity.  That is also unusual for Colorado.

I am thinking... about my husband Dean and oldest son Jordan, who are backpacking with 15 or so other scouts and adult leaders in the Mt. Holy Cross Wilderness this weekend.  I got a text from Dean yesterday that said, "Hello from 13,856 feet!".  The group was climbing Mt. Holy Cross (a 14'ner).  I was expecting that because you can always get a signal from a mountain peak.  What I was not expecting was a text at 6 a.m. this morning asking for the weather forecast for the day since they had been rained on since 3 a.m. and were holed up in their tents - they are to hike 6.5 miles today.  I looked it up and texted him back, but I haven't heard back from him.  I am amazed he got a signal at all...  Hope it isn't too miserable up there.  Backpacking in solid rain is nooo fun.  It's been 20+ years for me, but you don't forget!  ;)

I am thankful... as I said, for this cool weather, and for a nice relaxing week last week.  We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, on Thursday a few of Rylan's fellow daisy scouts joined up for an outing up the Big Thompson Canyon at Vienstenz-Smith Park (such a pretty place), and then on Friday, after seeing the scouts off, I took the little kids to the zoo, along with my two nephews (13 and 11).  We had such a fun day - I liked getting to spend some time with them - such great boys!  Yesterday the kids and I went to a retirement party for our dentist.  I know that sounds weird, but this guy - Dr. Obermann, is such. a. great. guy.  After 30 years of practice and local philanthropy, he has amassed a huge following of children who don't really mind when he pokes in their mouth, because his great personality makes up for it.  He was my pediatric dentist too, long, long ago.  ;)  He held a huge carnival/picnic in the park yesterday, complete with bouncy houses, trampolines (the kind where you wear a harness), food, sno-cones, face painting and local youth bands played up on a stage.  We said our goodbyes and then met the new dentist that will be taking over.  His name is Dr. Owen, and my Owen was very happy to meet another 'Owen'.  It doesn't happen that often.  We rounded out the day with a bbq at my friend Kierra's house, who lives just down the street from me.  This has become an annual event (this was our third time), and their bbq sauce and ribs are out of this world!  I can't wait until next year! (And the peach sangria was amazing!!!)  The kids had tons of fun battling it out with foam weaponry of all sorts with the other kids who were there.  Despite that, I am NOT going to get them any for home.  They hit each other enough already...


From the Learning Rooms... Our official school year ends this coming week, and the next year technically starts Aug 1st.  This coming week is also our 'off week' (last week of the month).  I am pretty much set with curriculum and stuff, I just need to finalize my plans to use PLATO Science for Jordan and get him a subscription through the Homeschool Buyer's Co-op.  It will take some advanced planning on my part - I need to figure out what time slot of the day will work best (we won't go for 24 hr. access)  and how many modules we think he can do this year.


In the kitchen...  Out. of. food.  Need to shop today. 


I am wearing... t-shirt and robe.


I am creating... a music playlist for when I am out walking.  Still tinkering with it a bit.  I love love love Spotify. 

I am going... for a long walk as soon as the kids wake up and then we will go shopping.  Love a lazy day!


I am wondering... whether to have granola with blueberries or oatmeal with strawberries.  Yep.  Deep thoughts going on around here..

I am reading... I picked up Drums of Autumn again from Gabaldon's Outlander series last weekend,  and made it another 8 pages or so.  I don't know why I can't get absorbed into another novel... I need a good summer read!


In the garden...  Ginormous turnips!  I tried making turnip fries earlier this week, and they were bitter.  :(  A friend says to let them stay in the garden until after a hard freeze.  The freeze will boost the sugar content.  I will read up on that.  I just hope they aren't bitter because they got too big.  They totally got away from me - much like a zucchini.


I am hoping... This weather does truly last all week like the forecast says it will.


I am looking forward to... the end of swim lessons!  They will end on Friday of this coming week.  I am pleased with how much Rylan and Owen have progressed, but I will be so glad to get our mornings back - just in time for school to start.


I am learning...  about turnips, proper things to eat before walking/running, Brownie bridging ceremonies and how to create a workable playlist ranked by bpm.  (beats per minute)


I am hearing... a crow, the fish tank gurgling, the fridge humming, another crow answering and my chair squeaking as I fidget.


Around the house... We will be ready to paint the house at the end of next month, so we need to finalize our color choices and submit them to the HOA for approval.  We will also be replacing the front door and side lights and maybe even the outdoor lighting, and they will also need to be approved.  sigh.

I am pondering... strawberries vs. blueberries again.  (I'm hungry)


One of my favorite things...  Cool mornings.  I can't wait for fall!


A few plans for the rest of the week... Rylan's last violin lesson is tomorrow, then we take August off.  Swim lessons every morning.  Rylan has tumbling tomorrow and Jordan has scouts.  And that is it!!!  The week is full of opportunity...


Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

 

Colin, Rylan and Owen enjoying sno-cones yesterday.



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In sickness and in health...

 

Happy 8th Anniversary to us! We are feeling very blessed this year, as we toast the past wonderful eight years of friendship, parenthood, chaos, silliness and love.

We have decided to celebrate this year by gifting ourselves with a pair of Fitbit Flex bracelets. If you don't have one, Get One! Trouble is, they are a hot commodity right now, so good luck. Last Friday we bought ours at Best Buy, two out of three that could be found in all of the state of Colorado. Online retailers are back ordered. We were really, really lucky. These bracelets are. awesome. Click on the link to find out more about them, but for a quick overview, these bracelets track your every move all throughout the day. No need to wear your pedometer or other gadgetry. The FitBit will track the intensity of your movements, your calories burned, how much sleep you got and the quality of sleep by noting how many times you were restless, it is waterproof (like in the shower, not the pool) and it is compatible with MyFitnessPal. You can use MFP for tracking your food diary, and MFP will analyze and log the data it constantly receives from your FitBit. I am a data freak, so I LOVE this! Since Saturday I've logged 31.62 miles (walking).

This is a great way to partner up with my husband and cheer each other as we get healthier together - that way we can do our part in keeping the sickness part of the deal out of the equation as much as possible.

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Back into the fold...

Jordan arrived home last week from his second round of visitation with his mom.  His plane arrived early in the evening, and it was a loud hyperfest in the back 2/3rds of the van the whole way home.  Rylan, Owen and Colin are very happy to have him back home.

We are too. 

Not sure what the emotional/behavioral damage estimate is, it was hard to tell initially, but I hope it follows the trend of past years and won't be as bad.  There will be the typical gaming deprogramming, of course, along with tapering off the need for constant stimulation from TV or computer.  It happens every year.  When he goes to visit, he constantly complains of boredom, so these are his only outlets.


I am glad Jordan is back, and in one piece to boot.  It is not a moment too soon.  This was a traumatic visit for us, waiting back here in Colorado.  First there was the EF5 tornado in Moore, on May 22nd, the day he flew out there.  Then, on May 31st, there was another tornado outbreak.



credit: NWS

Dean was at work that day, watching the weather warnings on the internet, and as things began to look pretty serious, he called Jordan to make sure that he was getting to safe place.  Jordan's mother's house is located where the green star is.  She has no storm cellar, no local shelter...nothing.  The storm trackers were predicting that the tornado was going to track eastward, along I40.  As you can see, the green star was IN THE DIRECT PATH of where the tornado was predicted to be heading.  (it did veer, inexplicably, south)  Jordan said that his mom and stepdad didn't think it was necessary to leave the house.  (!)

Let's just let that sit for a minute.  Just imagine.  You, sitting in a safe location, 800 miles away, can see and hear the local storm trackers and weather forecasters, by streaming a live feed over the internet, sounding the warning that if those individuals in the tornado's path cannot get below ground, they had better leave if they didn't want to risk losing their life.  Your loved-one is IN that path they keep mentioning over and over again.  Keep in mind, the horrific scenes from the Moore tornado were only 9 days old.  These were seasoned forecasters - and even they were sounding a little freaked out.  That is what we can hear, that is what we tell Jordan, that is what he tells his mom - BEGGING to her that he wants to leave and go someplace safer.  You could hear the fear in his voice.  And?  She scoffs.

Scoffs.

SCOFFS!

It's been over a month, and yet I still want to reach out and strangle...someone.  This was, in it's totality, her move as if to say - "I am not going to do something, just because they (meaning Dean and me) are telling me to do it.".  That is all it was.  She was so DETERMINED to make her point and to be the one in charge, that she forgot to be the grown-up in the first place. 

The map above shows a second star, a purple one.  This is where Jordan and his mom eventually sheltered at.  After our third phone call that afternoon in the span of 20 minutes, where we went over what safety precautions he could take if they were indeed staying put, we heard back from Jordan about 10 minutes later that he and his mom were driving south to a hospital, where they figured they could wait it out in an interior corridor.  This was now a full 30 minutes from when the first warnings to GET OUT came.  (This would be the hospital that was eventually hit by the tornado)  They moved on from there, for whatever reason, and eventually ended up (at Jordan's suggestion) at a Homeland Grocery store, sheltering in a meat locker with 30 or so other people.  If that had been her move, when the warnings first came, I would be applauding her.  But not for this.  It was Jordan that got them to safety - not her.  If she had put aside her petty control issues and phoned Dean herself, and came up with an evacuation game plan WITH him, for the sake and safety of THEIR son, I would have been so grateful.

Co-parenting can be so much better than this.  But it takes a willingness to work as a team.  I am regarded as the enemy by her.  Jordan is routinely asked by her if I am treating him okay, or if I yell at him or push him around.  I have been accused of forcing Jordan to raise the kids for me - that in fact (and this is precious), the only reason I keep him at home to "homeschool" him, is so that he will take care of the kids for me.  Jordan was actually quite angered by this, and told me that he set her straight, reminding her that 'he is the big brother, and that is what older sibling do" (duh), and that he is homeschooled because he had such a rough start in public education.  The general classroom is not the best place for him with his ADHD.  Her response? "Oh..."

I've been thinking about the whole 'step-mother' short shrift for some time now...  Just like parents of every stripe out there, there are people of every sort.  Just because you are a biological parent, doesn't, by default, make you a good one - make you the better choice.  The better adult-figure in a child's life can be the neighbor down the street, the teacher, the grandparent, and yes... even step-parents.  I'm am not saying this to toot my own horn.  What I am saying is that she is trying to sell Jordan on the 'Disney' version of the mean, unfair (and ugly) stepmother, and he is not buying it.  In fact, he confided in his dad that he resents the way Disney always portrays the stepmother figure.  He says it is an unfair depiction.  I love that kid...

I do have a lot more to say on this subject, but I think I will let it wait for another time.

The Sniff Test

 

Here is some advice. In the event that you smell something...'odd'...near the kitchen sink, don't shrug your shoulders and walk away. It may or may not be the dirty cooking pot that has been sitting on the counter for a couple of days, waiting to be scrubbed. It may or may not be the disposal. If you try dumping some baking soda and orange peels down it and it doesn't help, that's a sign. If the smell gets really bad every time you open the cabinet underneath to retrieve the dish soap, that's a sign too. When you investigate your stinky cabinet that is stuffed chock-full (like top to bottom) of wadded-up plastic shopping bags, take the time to look underneath stuff.

 

Our garbage disposal failed in rather spectacular fashion. We just didn't know it, for about...two weeks? Maybe three? I finally figured it out last night. I removed my unforgivable stash of plastic bags that I am terribly embarrassed to admit I have, only to find a pool of water on the bottom of the cabinet. The base of our cabinet had warped into a kind of basin, even. There were small plastic odds and ends floating in it. Our saving grace was that there happened to be a medium-sized flower vase positioned directly underneath the disposal. It was full to the brim with the most foul-smelling water you could ever imagine. It literally made me gag when I dumped it out. Every time we ran water into the main compartment of the kitchen sink, water would drip,drip,drip,drip,drip from the underside of the disposal unit.

 

Dean ran to Home Depot to get a replacement disposal while I finished cleaning up the mess. Less than an hour later we were back in business. I had Dean cut away the 'floor' of the cabinet since it was beyond salvage anyway. It just smelled so bad, it had to go. It did seep through and soak the subfloor underneath, but thankfully it did not run underneath the whole cabinet and ruin the new kitchen flooring we *just* laid down a couple of weeks ago. Again - I think that vase totally saved us.

 

So, lesson learned. From now on, I will fully investigate all suspicious smells. Unless they come from Colin's rear-end.

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The Fourth

 

 

Happy Belated Fourth! The geranium pictured above is from last year. I didn't plant a single flower this year. :( My shoulder surgery happened on May 22nd, and I just didn't have it in me to do all the pot cleaning/hanging, plant procuring, actual planting or watering this year. Lame excuse, I know. I miss the scent of geraniums, though. Nothing says "Welcome!" like a cheerful red geranium by the front door, complete with a sparkly American flag pot-decoration-thingy.

 

 

 

So this year, since Rylan wasn't donning a vintage girl scout uniform and parading around in it, I woke up with the bright idea of bicycling to the parade locale and watching the parade...much to Owen's dismay. After 2 hours of prepping we were ready to go. Never mind that the parade was long over, the horse poop cleaned up, the streets opened and the fire trucks put away... we were still going for a ride!

 

We haven't been on a family bike ride since fall of 2011. We completely skipped over bicycling, somehow, last year. We had the wildfires for most of June, so outdoor activity was a no-go. July was hot and we left for vacation, and by August I was starting to feel not-so-hot with chest pains and shoulder pains, so we just never did. So that bike trailer got considerably dusty...and it really did take two hours to get that cleaned up and ready to go, in addition to my bike, and locating all things related to biking.

 

This was Rylan's first official long distance trail ride on her own bike. Previous trail rides meant she was with me, on the tag-along thing. So Dean took the lead with the trailer, pulling 80 pounds of boy, and I followed Rylan, annoying her the whole way with 'rules-of-the-road' advice. She is really going to hate me in her teen years. We rode without incident and it was a beautiful day with a nice, light breeze.  My shoulder did pretty well.  I ride upright, on a Townie (the blue bike in the pic below), so my arms stretch out and forward to the handlebars.  My shoulder got crampy and tired about halfway through, and I just had to swing it around a bit to get it loosened up again.  The good news is that the achy feeling didn't last long, so I am really really pleased about that.  Our ride was 12 miles, and we stopped off at a Dairy Queen on our way back home.

 

 

Smile dammit!

We took recovery naps off and on for the rest of the day (well, the grown-ups did, the kids worked on trashing the house since no one was watching...), until it was time to load up in the car and head south to my brother's for a 4th of July bbq and watch the fireworks. The boys took their recovery nap on the ride down.

 

 

Our friend Norma, whose daughter and husband were out of state visiting relatives, joined us for the festivities. She was kind enough to bring her ostentatiously orange camp chair for the occasion - strictly for Dean's benefit. Dean, Norma and her husband Keith are all Oklahoma to Colorado transplants. Dean has OU blood. Norma and her husband bleed orange (OSU). It is a rivalry that will never end. Norma asked me to take this picture of Rylan in said chair, and then post it to Facebook for all to see. My husband is still not speaking to me.

 

I'm sure there are benefits to owning a chair like this.  I just don't know what they are.
This might be the ideal hunting accessory - y'know, the safety orange and all...
Unless you come across a Sooner fan that is also out hunting.
Then all bets are off.

 

 

My SIL is the cupcake queen, hands down

 

My dad, me and my beloved.

Do you think I have groveled enough?

 

We had a great evening and enjoyed lots of good food and a 30 minute fireworks show, courtesy of the City of Broomfield. My brother lives just south of where they launch the fireworks, so all we have to do is drag our lawn chairs about a 100 ft out the back door to the greenbelt, and sit and enjoy the show. No crowds, no cars...it is wonderful! I heard a hilarious comment from another group of people sitting near us - as the show began and the sky filled with color, a man from behind us yelled, "Down with King George!!".



 



It made me giggle, but it also gave me goosebumps. Just imagine what those days must have been like 237 years ago... We have so much to be grateful for.  Just no more 'Georges' in office, m'kay?

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