Things I Learned on My Vacation:

1. Mosquitoes are evil.
2. When living amongst swarms of mosquitoes, teenage boys are apt to re-name cortisone sticks "Happy Juice."
3. Children are more likely to fight over homemade salsa than they are candy.
5. When subjected to a TV- and Internet-free existence, children may beg to play Yahtzee and complain they don't have enough time to read their books, what with all the swimming in the lake and Yahtzee-playing they are doing.
6. After teenage boys catch 'pet' frogs, they can spend happy hours with dimestore butterfly nets catching 'frog food'. One net was even pink, but you didn't hear that from me.
7. Country men manning a teensy Ace Hardware store that keeps its overstock in a barn covered with a tarp next to cages of rabbits are mightily amused at city girls asking for hula-hoop making supplies.
8. Ladies of size may be more easily able to hula hoop with a *giant* hoop. No joke-I thought my chest-high hoop would do it, but I didn't really get it until I made a five-foot diameter hoop. I would not have had to make that hoop had we been able to pack our hoops into the van, but it was packed so tightly we may actually have misplaced a child at one point.
9. Hula hoops tied to the top of a van make a LOT of noise at 70 mph.
10. If you have a dog and live on a hill, you will *never* need to buy a Stairmaster.
11. When locked in a van full of folks singing Justin Bieber songs at the top of their lungs, my camo-wearing, Bieber-hating son will give in and sing along.
12. Children (ages 10-16) who run through the woods, catch frogs and frog food, swim in the lake twice a day, and go fishing in a paddleboat take naps without complaining, or at times, even meaning to do so!
13. I need to move to Mexico, to a town where siestas are still de rigueur.
14. Most of my sleep problems appear to be due to stress. Except for the night before our return, I fell asleep when the light went out and slept like a rock all night long. Now I just need to figure out how to better deal with the stress in my life so that I can sleep well every night!
15. It's easier to learn dog names than human names. We met Snaps, Jake, Bruno, Oprah and Winfrey.
16. 10 year olds make excellent tour guides.

Waste

Last night was my grandma's birthday, so we had a family dinner at a local restaurant (with the absolute best soup-and-salad bar in the area). Li'l Sis and I both left chocolate on the table, uneaten, and she got chided for it (I think they have all given up on trying to impact my eating habits. Yay.) The thing is, though...chocolate is not sacred. No food is.

When I make a dress, I buy a length of fabric, and inevitably, I throw a bunch in the garbage--the scraps. Am I wasting them? Of course not. Those pieces of fabric would get in the way of creating a well-fitting, flattering garment.

When an artist sculpts something out of clay, there's scraping, trimming, and tossing. Is that waste? No, if the artist were forced to incorporate every bit of clay from the block, we'd have an ugly masterpiece, indeed.

Haircuts, woodworking, scrapbooking, even a little child's artwork--all of it involves tossing the extraneous material. Why should a meal be any different? If the aim of eating a meal is physical and emotional satisfaction, and giving energy to the body, then there are times-many times for some-when that means leaving food on the plate. The broccoli is bitter, the chocolate is too sweet or not tasty enough, the stomach is simply not asking for quite that much food...I would really like to see 'wasted' food seen in the same light as tossing the fabric scraps, trimming the clay away and sanding the wood, rather than the all-too-common moral imperative to clean one's plate. Not to mention the fact that if you aren't hungry and you eat the food just to get it eaten...it's still wasted, only you still have to deal with it.

Everyone Loved Her

Our family lost a dear friend yesterday.

It's rare that I can remember the first time I met someone. Rarer still when I met them at the age of five. It was New Year's Eve, the first year my parents let me stay up until midnight, if I remember correctly. Jessie was drunk, loud, obnoxious and amazing.

She carried a gun. She talked to me like a grown-up. She dyed my hair, let me get my ears double pierced and took me to see the Phantom of the Opera. She could drive from Seattle to here in 2.5 hours instead of the four it took everyone else. She borrowed my roller skates when I was only seven, and they fit her tiny feet and we went roller-skating together. How many grown-ups do that? Over three decades and three generations, she charmed every one of us.

Jessie lived years beyond the doctors' expectations. That fits her personality and force of will so well that I have a hard time believing she is gone. I have never been one for those fuzzy, childish, earthly-minded views of heaven, but today I find myself wondering if there are roller skates up there.

The Downside of Intuitive Eating

I don't talk about my Intuitive Eating journey often enough on here. Part of that, I think, is that in real life I frequently have to defend my way of eating, which makes me want to hold tighter to the parts of it that stay personal. But lately I have been struck many times by the downside of the process. Downside? There isn't supposed to be one! But, as with everything else in life, there are pretty parts and not-so-pretty parts, and sometimes they are even the same thing.

Family tension: My family doesn't eat like I do. They don't even understand my new way of eating. If I refuse dessert because I am not hungry or it doesn't sound wonderful, someone comments, "Jenny is trying to be good." Um, no, I am not...I think eating choices are morally neutral...I am just not hungry! Frequently if I don't put something on my plate, it's personal to the cook, and if my meal doesn't look 'balanced' I sometimes get a speech on the subject (as does Nate, who is the most intuitive eater I know...but at family dinners, there are veggies, fruit, chips and salsa out and he eats bunches of those and then when it is 'dinner time' he eats only meat...and gets a speech about it, every time. Um...he already had the other food groups? And what he eats is none of your business??!!). To be fair, this situation is getting better. I think my family has given up.

Inability to commiserate: Eat something not 'on your diet'? I could care less. Moaning and groaning about your belly? Really, I think your belly is fine. I think mine is fine, too. I don't care to sit around wallowing in self-hate, denial and false hopes. I actually think it's stupid to starve yourself or try to follow some formula. This does not make me popular.

Inability to eat emotionally: What?! But I thought that was the GOAL of this whole thing? Well, yeah, but do you realize what that means? It means...that when I am sad, chocolate is irrelevant. That some people who care about me can't make me happy by giving me Ghirardelli. I have to find new ways to cope. I am no fun at all-women ice-cream pity-parties. Chocolate sits in my cupboard or night table long enough that it has to be thrown out. In some ways that is very sad.

It's a bone of contention: Generally, what I believe about food and body size shouldn't be a point of argument, but it has become so at times. For instance, Raoul was coming over one evening. I asked him to bring me a cheeseburger. I don't eat cheeseburgers often but that night it really sounded good. What did he bring me? Nuts and berries. I kid you not. I insisted that nuts and berries are no 'better' or 'healthier' than a cheeseburger, but this was brushed aside. Of course they must be better for you! After all, you can pick them right off a vine! Um, no, actually, if one's body demands a cheeseburger, nuts and berries are not going to satisfy, no matter how 'healthy' they are deemed by some expert or another. And no, I don't really care that our ancestors and even some people on the planet today survive on that kind of diet, you can't listen to my stomach and you have no right to tell me what to eat. I could barely choke down a few nuts and berries and had to go to bed hungry (carless, mother hubbard me that evening, or I would have done something about that). Granted, not everyone is as conceited and self-righteous as my ex-boyfriend, but still, the need to shout "You're not the boss of me!" does pop up from time to time. Sometimes it isn't a friend or relative so much as it is society and situations...like at work, where the choice of convenience food is yucky vending-machine fare or the 'healthy food' table that only has granola bars and dried fruit...and this girl needs protein! So I have to go with the yucky Jenny-hating vending machine and be deemed 'that girl who is so fat because she eats hot pockets'. Well, no one has said that aloud, but you know how society makes you feel.

It won't make me skinny, and it ain't fast: Intuitive eating will never make me skinny. If I hadn't screwed with my metabolism to begin with, then perhaps I could intuitively eat myself to a socially acceptable weight, but I did screw with my metabolism and I have no delusions about what that means. I will be fat the rest of my life. I am ok with that now, but other people are not. The Navy, for instance. Nate's Sea Cadet unit could sure use another uniformed adult...but my body is, according to Navy regs, "a disgrace to the uniform." As if body size is, again, a moral issue? Um, no, thanks anyway. And other women are always assuming that I am trying to get thin. Nope! Wasted enough years on that, thanks! But then again, it is hard to give up the diet dreams, plus it is yet another way that I am different from the women around me.

The worst part? When angry at things like this, potato chips are no help. Sigh.

It makes special occasions harder: I almost didn't eat my own birthday cake this year. I wasn't hungry. It didn't even sound good, even though I had asked for it. I finally ate a small piece just to be polite, but I have grown to dislike doing such things. I know that naturally thin, intuitively-eating people eat when they are not hungry, and that is what I told myself, but I guess now that I am listening to my body, it's hard to argue with it.

It's more work sometimes: Starving myself is not an option, even for convenience's sake. Although I do struggle with this from time to time, the right thing to do is feed my hungry body. This is especially hard when I am home alone. Cooking a whole meal for one person who isn't even going to say thank you? What fun is that? But the other night I did make myself cook up a great chicken-pepper stir fry (with nuts...leftover from the anti-cheeseburger ex-boyfriend). It was wonderful, and I was so glad that I had done that. It hit the spot perfectly. But most days, I just want the hunger to go away rather than a cooking/eating experience. I have to learn to take better care of myself than that.

All in all, I still choose this path. I am free from the bondage of emotional eating, food rules and regulations, self-hate, despair, false hopes...it's wonderful! Freedom is a tasty thing :-)

Birthday Girls

My birthday was yesterday. Li'l Sis' birthday is tomorrow. My lovely stepmother took birthday photos for us. Aren't we cute?

Suffering For Those We Love

Twenty years ago, almost exactly, I sang at and won a talent show at my middle school.

This evening I paid for that triumph.

My baby sister was beautiful, but I couldn't hear her. And, let's face it, you don't go to watch everyone else's kids. And why, oh, why, do they refrigerate the auditorium?! There were a couple girls who are very talented, but in the main, it was a painful experience.

I'm still glad I went.

Cha-cha-cha-changes

I do not naturally handle change well. Nate said something that sums it up (apparently it’s hereditary), “I don’t like surprises. They mess with my schedule.” I’ve been working on this issue for years. But…
Yesterday I applied for a new position. Same company, just yet another ‘team’. Cool team. Mother team of the team I was recently on where I had so much fun. Team that pays more. The key word here is YESTERDAY. Prior to applying I had tapped a couple guys on that team and they kindly sent me emails with what I needed to know…and I skimmed them, figuring I would do in-depth study on my two days off this week and be all set, right?
Yeah, not so much. Interviewer walked up to me this afternoon and asked if I could interview RIGHT NOW. What was I going to say besides sure? The verdict? I don’t know anything but they think I have a great attitude, so the job is mine. Scary, huh? Oh, and by the way…instead of having two days off and going out of town, I get to come back to work for training the rest of the week. And, I get a new schedule starting on Sunday…that might include Sundays, btw…just when I was getting used to this new schedule. And no one knows what it will be. And I had plans next week to take Nate out of town, then spend a couple days out of town myself. Now who knows what will happen.
Putting that on the heels of our recent household changes, extremely overdue hormonal changes (sorry to the three guys that read this blog) and I basically broke down crying after being given a job that I wanted! My poor boss. She is really a sweetie. Unfortunately, she won’t be my boss anymore. Snif.

Quick Trip

Nate and I had to take a semi-emergency trip to the Wet Side of the state. We stopped and visited friends and my grandmother along the way, and actually convinced her to come along with us! So it made for three, and I am glad. I rented a Kia Rondo (?), which was comfortable if a tad noisy, and put 700 miles on it in two days, which is more than I prefer.

Grandma and I stayed at the Comfort Inn in Port Orchard. It's an adorably little place. It has a quaint little breakfast room where you can have everything from cereal to waffles (note--READ the instructions on the waffle iron before using), yogurt, bagels, just about everything you could want that they can do self-serve. The room furniture is pretty, and the pillows absolutely marvelous. I think they get their name from the pillows, really, it was very hard not to steal one or two! My single complaint, and it really isn't bad enough to call it a complaint, but I don't know another word, is that there was not much floor space in our room. Just walking paths around the furniture, lol. We had two double beds, though, perhaps other rooms have more, um, room.

The day we came back, we took Nate to the Naval Undersea Museum. It was very cool! Torpedoes, diving exhibits, underwater robots, a ship's bell exhibit and, dear to mine and Grandma's hearts, the half-size rescue sub used in the filming of The Hunt For Red October. They also have a reproduction of the living quarters on a Titan Submarine, which I had hoped would make Nate think twice about being deployed on one, but no such luck. Kid doesn't like to go to the grocery store when it's busy because of all the people, but thinks he can live on a shelf in a wall of shelves, all housing full-grown men?! Sigh.

We were lost about 50% of the time we were driving, but we did make it back home. I want you all to know, I stopped and asked directions FOUR times during that trip, and TWO of those times, people gave me bad advice! Grandma says I am pretty good at finding a way...eventually, lol.

Groundhog Birthday

Nate turned 13 twice this week. Well, not really, of course, but his first birthday, on Tuesday, was a dud! I had to work, we tried The Great Puppy Experiment (concluding puppies are not for us right now), he didn't get promoted in Jukido like he hoped he would (although, his attitude is SO good about it..."If Sensei didn't promote me, then clearly I am not ready, and he knows better than I do about it"), we didn't have time between TGPE and Jukido for me to make his selected dinner, and so when I asked for his second choice and he picked KFC and we went there and they were out of mash and gravy, I knew we had to have a do-over.



So we did it again yesterday. I still had to work, of course, but there was no puppy, still no schoolwork or chores, we didn't have to go anywhere, and I was able to make his dinner, after which we curled up and watched this week's NCIS and two episodes of Diagnosis Murder, his choice, while he ate gummy bears.



All in all, I am glad we did it again.



Interestingly, his dinner choice was Mediterranean fish with mashed potatoes and gravy (I had pilaf). This is the only fish recipe I have used that the kids request, so I thought I would share it. It originated with Saving Dinner, I think, but as I haven't seen the recipe in years, my version might be pretty far off the mark. Here it is, nonetheless:



Mediterranean Fish

About a pound of halibut or cod. We buy the frozen fillets.

1 can of Italian-style diced tomatoes

1 can of olives, cut in half (each olive...not the can)

Few cloves garlic

1 lemon, sliced thinly

Dash of balsamic vinegar

oil



Crush or mince garlic, saute in the oil. Lay the fish fillets over the top, pour the tomatoes over that, add the dash of vinegar, lay the lemon slices on top of the fish, toss the olives on, put the lid on the pan and let the fish cook for a few minutes on med to med-low (know your own stove!), turn the fish over, put the lid back on and cook until done.

It's My Fault

Many of my kids' traits are their father's fault. All those relating to testosterone and farting, for instance. But one is mine: the tendency to sleep-walk and sleep-talk. In the years we were together, I can't remember my ex ever doing either, but I know I woke him in a panic on at least two occasions--once to ask who some girl was that was calling for him (premonitions, anyone?) and once to say, "J, J, that roll of film you're looking for is underneath you!" to which he replied, "No, that's just an elephant" and I said, "Oh, ok"and rolled back over. He was not asleep, there really was an elephant underneath him. I don't know how I knew that, though.

I also drove my father crazy because he had wake-up duty on school days and he could never be sure I was awake. He had a series of maneuvers. First he would come into my room, turn on the light and say, "Jenny, it's time to wake up!" and go back to his paper. If he didn't see or hear me he would come back and remove my blankets, and go back to his paper. If he STILL didn't see or hear me he would send in Brownie, my German Shepherd-Doberman mix. I had a waterbed. This never failed to rouse me.

So no one can blame the man for not realizing that one morning after Stage 1, when I came into the kitchen, opened the fridge, closed the fridge and walked back to my room, he didn't think anything of it. Until an hour later when he realized he still hadn't seen me since then...and found me back in my bed, still asleep.

Anyway, all this to say that I have gotten what I have deserved. As a baby, Nate would begin talking about 5 a.m. Apparently he was hungry, as he was always mumbling about oatmeal. He also had a tendency to get up to use the bathroom, only since he wasn't really awake, frequently he would think he was in the bathroom when he wasn't. I woke easily and quickly in those days, ready to re-direct the child at a moment's notice. My dad would have been proud.

Brandon once came into my grandmother's guest room one night when we were staying there. I said, "Brandon, you should be asleep!" Ha! He said, "I will, but first tell me what to do with the nail-like thingies." The conversation lasted a while, until finally I realized he wasn't really all there and sent him on back to bed, promising to take care of the thingies in the morning.

The other night I woke up to Nate calling at me from the hall. "Um, Um, Um, do you plan to...to keep the light...hang on a second..." he took a break to use the facilities, and since I was now awake, I saw the wisdom of that action, so I waited by the door. He came out and I asked him what he needed. He said, "I need to know if they have that gun in a larger size."

Gee, I hope not.

Fun Stuff

As I type this, Nate is taking the very last section of his CAT test. He just said, 'So, public school kids take this all in one day?' (it's taken us a week). I said yes. He said, 'Now I know why kids bring guns to school.' Yeah, some days I worry about that kid.

So, to celebrate the end of the test, when he's finished, we are getting into pajamas (well, I am at any rate) and watching Hangman's Curse (from the Frank Peretti book of the same name) which was Nate's pick since he has just finished reading the Veritas Project series. I believe we have both red and black licorice plus gummy bears and gummy cola bottles to aid in our celebration.

And, if we still need fun after the movie is over, we can try out our new air hockey table that was delivered this afternoon. Only, we will have to find something to use as a puck and two somethings to use as strikers, as the table did not come with any. I've always wanted one, though, and when it was offered free of charge with delivery included, how could I turn it down?

Apologies & News

I apologize for any inconvenience my month-and-a-half-long break from blogging has caused. Basically, we had stuff going on that caused me to not really want to share. I think I'm over that now.

Brandon is spending a few months at his dad's and going to public school for the very first time. I hear he's doing well there.

Nate is still here with me. While I have been largely unemployed this summer, Nate just finished up four weeks' work on the house up the street--basically being the grunt. His boss said he's a good grunt and a very careful worker (which Nate blames on my grandmother and me, you know, like that's a bad thing). The boy has been lamenting the lack of a 'real job' for years now, but I think he learned a lot from having one, including that it's much more fun to be a kid! He and I are both happy that he can go back to his much more laid-back schedule this week. And he has saved up almost enough for a new laptop in the process.

Annual testing--only one student taking it this year. Normally I like to have it done by the end of August (since we school from Sept-Aug) but this year with everything going on, it didn't get started until a week ago. It's Nate's first year taking a fill-in-the-bubble test, since in the past he's had a non-test assessment. This is more time-consuming and less flexible. On the first day I laid down the rules and he was a bit put off by them. "Why all these new rules all of a sudden?!" he asked, and when I explained, he said, "Well, can I have gum?" and I told him that was fine so he said, "Do I have to bring enough for the whole class?" LOL He's gotten quite a way through his pack as the only student.

We purchased our test from www.familylearning.org btw.

I promise not to disappear again anytime soon, thanks for reading,

Jenny-Fair

Proud Mama Moment

Brandon just brought home a blue ribbon. Swim meets are sometimes confusing, and so we didn't even know he'd taken first place in the backstroke! Can't wait to see him at tomorrow's meet after a week of stroke clinics.

I Guess It Could Be Worse...

So Brandon took 8 emergency trips to the hospital just to get born, and then an emergency transport afterwords. When he was 12, he had 12 emergency hospital visits...at 13 it was 13, at 14 it was 14...and he turned 15 in April. I thought, oh no! LOL But so far we've been ok. We still are, except tonight he got whacked in the teeth in Karate class and his tooth is loose. Thank the Lord it is the tooth that is already false! Yes, an already false tooth...that would have been the 13th trip, I think, when he broke his wrist and snapped off his front tooth in a scooter accident. In any case, I will be calling the dentist first thing, and let's just hope he doesn't accidentally swallow the tooth in the meantime. You know, like he did the thumbtack when he was 12.

For the Birds

Here you see two of the six geese with whom I became well acquainted on Saturday. They belong to my mom's friend, L, who graciously hosted a birthday party with me for Mom. The goose on the left thought my pretty green toenails were berries, I think, and tried to take a bite. All six pecked and chewed in some manner, and I now know why being goosed is called being goosed! Geese have fascinating mouths, in case you have never been up close--no teeth, but they do have funky ridges that feel rather strange. I have no idea why they chose me--no one else at the party got this special goose treatment. They would not let me pet them, however.

Since When is it About Easy?

Twice in 24 hours this subject has come up...do you teach your kids to do things like chores, or do you do it yourself? Both times the mother in question has said, 'It's just EASIER to do it myself.' (in defense of one mom, she now sees the subject differently and what she said was part of a compliment she was giving me)

Well, OF COURSE it's easier! But since when is parenting about easy? No, very little about parenting is about ease or comfort. One problem I see more and more is that parents see their task as taking care of kids instead of shaping adults. Today's kids are tomorrow's rulers, after all. And tomorrow's criminals, lawyers, bakers, doctors...you get the point.

This mindset brings with it several effects, none of them happy. First, you get kids who think the world revolves around them. It is not healthy for a child to believe this (past the normal egocentric age that begins at birth, that is), and it really is necessary to their self-worth to feel like they are contributing to the family rather than being served by it. Secondly, you have a young person who graduates school and goes to college (or not) not realizing that their fairies aren't coming with them. You know--the Laundry Fairy, the Dishes Fairy, the Toilet-Scrubbing Fairy. These young people are impossible to live with, both because their roommates are suddenly thrust into multi-fairy mode, but also because they have that attitude-the Princess attitude...all good things come to me, because I am me! You also have kids who don't respect their parents because they haven't learned that their work is respectable. I suspect these same kids won't feel they need to be doing any respectable work anytime soon.

I'm a proud holder of the Mean Mommy Award. Yup, I make them do the dishes over and over if they can't seem to get them clean. We have company coming today and both had to do extra chores. They suffer consequences when they make mistakes. And one day, they'll thank me. Or at least their wives will.

My Son, the Genius!

Actually, I happen to think BOTH of my children are brilliant, but this morning Nate figured out what was wrong with the air condition, without which we have been suffering for a week, and it's in the 100s right now!

A Tip: The vents really do need to be open. I am guessing that with the exit vents closed, as soon as it started blowing cold air and that air was trapped in the unit, it tripped the thermostat? In any case, I will now be able to live through my birthday, which I had my doubts about after yesterday.

And now...back to my sushi snack before my birthday party. I think Safeway made these crab and avocado California rolls just for me, LOL.

Grass Stains, Mosquito Bites & Motherly Pride

For a year and a half or so, my kids have been attending martial arts classes with our local Kokondo teacher. I highly recommend their children's classes-they are strictly self-defense and I have been very impressed. Both boys take the kids' class (Jukido Jujitsu) and Brandon also attends the adult class (Kokondo Karate).

This month during Jukido promotions, Nate was skipped one level from Yellow to Yellow w/2 stripes and Brandon was skipped two levels from Yellow to Orange. Hence my Proud Mama moment!

This week the building we normally use is unavailable and so the classes are meeting at a park. For over a year now I have been sitting on the sidelines, envious of my kids, but tonight I joined the Karate class. I can only do so this week while we meet in the park, and there is no need for a Gi and Sensei is being kind letting Nate and me hang out with the adult class (uh, without paying, lol). And besides, I finally have the time and energy since I am out of work. It was so much fun! I kicked off my (adorable new) Crocs (thanks, Mom!) and got grass stains on my jeans and I am sure I was eaten alive by the bugs. I certainly got sweaty and while it wasn't an aerobic workout it was definitely exercise. I am very proud of myself because this is part of my changing attitude about my size. I will never be thin (one can't starve a healthy body and expect it to react well) but I CAN STILL DO WONDERFUL THINGS! I do not have to worry that everyone is looking at me and thinking, 'Why is that fat woman doing that in public?' Nope, I was out there fumbling around in a group of people half my age and younger, but I can proudly say that now I can do Bo Kata 1.

Field Trip!

Today we went on a field trip. We were blessed by the company of my grandparents. Grandma is a retired school teacher and Grandpa is a retired scientist and both are full of all sorts of interesting information!

We took a shorter trip than had been planned, but it worked out beautifully and I think we all had fun. First we went to Ice Harbor Lock and Dam. We saw absolutely gigantic fish, learned about dams and the effects of dams on the fish population, learned about the commercial traffic on inland waterways (which was really cool as it tied in with my recent job at an export company), and visited the memorial to the Native Americans that are buried beneath the lake behind the dam.

In Dayton we found the oldest surviving train depot in Washington. It is amazing. They have turned it into a museum and, even though we did not get to go in, we enjoyed peeking through windows and wandering the grounds. FYI, they are closed on Mondays and Tuesdays and even though the sign says that if you go ask at the Weinhard Hotel for a tour, the people at the hotel had no clue what we were talking about when we did! LOL But, I decided that I need to have my portrait done there in Victorian dress and that it would also be a great place for a wedding.

The Weinhard Hotel would be the perfect spot for the honeymoon. I honestly thought I had stepped back in time about a hundred years when I walked through the door. I actually dragged Grandma in to look around because I wanted to enjoy it with someone. Off the lobby are an internet cafe and an art gallery. The gallery holds prints by Jill Ingram, who does beautiful work in watercolors. Grandma and I both bought cards from the gallery, since we could not afford prints and we could not leave without some! I think she is framing hers. (Oh, and yeah, the hotel does have to do with the beer in some way.)

We also took Grandpa to the library in Dayton, where the lovely librarian was kind and helpful even though she was doing the job of two women at the time. Helpfully, Grandpa dug up all sorts of info and resources for the boys and I to use to continue their education--this trip counts towards their WA state history & government (required to graduate no matter where you are schooled in WA), history, social studies and science. My grandparents are so cool. (please note that the hotel visit does not count toward any school credit for the boys as they thought we were nuts for going gaga and basically they sat in the car surfing off the wi-fi from the 'net cafe!)

Way cool tidbit: My grandmother is 20 years younger than one of her sisters, and I am 20 years (and two days!) older than one of mine.

What day is this?

Today is...let me check my calendar here...yes, it is ONLY June 13th! And yet, I am already hearing mothers moaning about summer break dragging on and when is school going to start so I can get these rugrats off my hands?!

Ok, not to be mean...but I don't get this. My kids are always home. We have no 'summer fights'. And if your children will not listen to you and cannot get along during the summer, then I have news for you--this is a year round problem! You just don't notice it when they are at school.

Don't simply wait out the summer--make some changes in your home. Choose your number 1 annoyance and tackle it. Focus on relationships in your home. A routine might be of some use--summer provides freedom, but freedom without goals and routines leads to chaos.

And most of all, please remember that these children are blessings and they will be grown and gone far too soon! Enjoy the moments you have with them.