Oops!

Okay, I realize there is no excuse for not posting in over a month!  Life has been a bit crazy lately!  And since the weather has been so agreeable we find ourselves out and about much more -especially considering the time change and longer sunshine! The kids want nothing else than to be outside playing tag and going on walks around the neighborhood.  

During the last month we have enjoyed a few "adventures".  Mike and I attended the Modest Mouse Concert at the Fox Theatre in Visalia.  Most have no idea what or who this is - so just to put your mind at ease, Modest Mouse is quite a famous Indie-Rock band...And it was very unusual they would find their way to Visalia!

We went on a family camping trip to Morro Bay!...My most favorite place to be!  Gracie, our little Mermaid, loves the beach just like her Momma!  Jacob, on the other hand, has a few issues he'll need to work out!  He hates sand on his feet, thinks the water is way too cold, and when walking on the sand (against his will), will not step on anybody's footprints!  He had to find his own path on undisturbed sand.  It was entertaining watching him think this one out as he planned his path!

 

We've taken a few drives to Three Rivers to enjoy the spring flowers and green landscape.  And of course, Reimer's ice cream!

So, it's been the beginning of a very nice spring!  Gracie and I are now trying to figure out what kind of party we want to have for her 5th birthday!

Always Go With Your Gut!

Yesterday afternoon, Mike calls me at work and asks what our plans are for the evening.  Being that it's Friday, we both would like to get out of the house and do something fun with the family.  He suggests we go out to dinner and have Chinese food.  Okay, I guess.  Chinese food doesn't really fit into my diet, but it does sound good.  So we agree!  And let me just add here, going out to dinner has not been something we have been able to do very often because of budget restraints, so this is kind of exciting!

Mike gets home from work late, at 6:00pm, and I get the kids re-dressed (clean clothes) and pile them into the car.  Now the question, "Which Chinese restaurant should we go?"  Canton, China Garden, Kow Loon's, Gozen, all of which are tried and true.  Nope, Mike suggests we try this new Chinese restaurant called Taste of Asia.  Let me provide just a little background:

Taste of Asia is a small, one-room building on a dark corner, next to a car lot and lumber yard.  Not necessarily where you would expect to find an eating establishment.  It used to be a balloon and flower shop.  Taste of Asia has had their name on this building for over a year, but has never opened, which I thought was strange.    On the way home from work a week ago, Mike noticed they had finally opened, which prompted his request to try it.  I protested, of course, and we agreed to go to Canton's, which we new had okay food.  With the exception of the owner having a huge mole on her cheek, with a very long gray hair growing out of it, Canton's is a safe choice!  But we drove by and it seemed to be quite busy.  Alright, so Mike gets his way - we drive a couple of blocks to the "Unknown".  

We unload the kids and walk in Taste of Asia through the back door, which is next to the kitchen.  I sneak a peak to get an idea of what we're about to dare.  It's a tiny kitchen, with two men diligently cooking.  It looks clean - check!  The cooks looked Asian - check!   The food they had out looked fresh - Check!  But, as I mentiond earlier, it's a one-room dinning room with five tables, and looks a bit like something out of the movie "The Shining".   I still try and have an open mind.  We are greeted by a very young, not too attractive, young lady who shows us to our table.  We sit down and I take a moment to look around at two other parties, brave souls, one of which is already eating, the other is waiting for their food.  They look like almost normal people, so again, I'll keep an open mind.  

We wait quite awhile for our food to come.  I ordered shrimp and mixed vegetables, Mike ordered shrimp and mushrooms, and we ordered a combo plate for the kids to share.  Okay, so here's my second clue I won't be coming back: we ask for Soy Sauce.  The young waitress quickly and happily complies, runs back to her station and brings back "to go" packets of Soy Sauce an puts them on our table.  Huh?  So, you're telling me they don't have normal bottles of Soy Sauce? Strange.  "Thank you", I say, "May I please have some hot mustard?"  "Oh sure!", the waitress responds, and again runs back to her station.  Third clue: She sets a little white bowl on the table.  I, of course, thank her.  But, um, this doesn't look like the hot mustard I've had before....OH!!  Because it's NOT!!  Nope, it's DEJON MUSTARD!?!?  Quoting Melissa, "Are you KIDDING me?"  Mike gets up and walks up to our waitress and politely asks if there's another kind of "hot mustard" we can have.  Our waitress runs into the kitchen to "ask her boss".  No, that is the only hot mustard they have!  Okay then!  I'm outta here!  And honestly, as I'm half-way through eating my dinner, I'm just a little scared!  I don't know who "the boss" is, but do they really have any business opening a "Chinese restaurant" if they don't even know what hot mustard is?  Hmmmm.   We finished our dinner, and no, in case you were wondering, Dejon mustard is not good on Chow Mein, and walk out the same back door.  Again, I look over my shoulder to take another look at my "cooks"....this time one of them looks at me, and NO they're not Asian, I'm not sure what they were!  I look at Mike, my dear husband, and thank him for broadening my horizons, but next time I'll be the one that makes the decision of where to dine out!  Thanks for the lovely night out Tootsie!  

I know it's been forever since I last posted.  I can give any excuse you could think of...but I guess it comes down to laziness!  Although, I do have to share how crazy my son has been lately!  He has been teething the last month, with productive results!  Four molars and one more bottom tooth to add to his collection!  Whew!  It hasn't been a very pleasant month.  Hopefully we'll get a small break before teeth make their arrival! 

Jacob is also quite the dare-devil.  I am amazed every day how "boy" he is!  He is soooo different than Gracie - He studies things to see how they work, and hasn't found anything yet he doesn't want to climb.  His favorites are the coffee table and on top of the dinning room table.  When he achieves his goal he does a little "jig" to celebrate!  He makes me laugh, and I thoroughly enjoy him - even when he's a little grouch.

Changing the subject....my little family went on a day trip to the foothills last weekend.  We were going to drive to Potwisha, a campground just inside the National Park entrance, and hike on a trail Mike knew about.  We packed a lunch and arrived in no time!  We started our hike, but unfortunately we didn't get 20 minutes up the trail when it started to rain.  Gracie, Mike and I loved it, but Jacob didn't see the fun in it.  We also stopped at Reimer's and ate some homemade ice cream, and Gracie got to spend her allowance on her most favorite thing....candy, of course.

The Great Flood

Today, being that it's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Mike had the day off of work, but unfortunately, I didn't.  I left my daughter, her little friend that spent the night, my son (who was already a handful this morning at 5:45), and my patient husband.  I had my doubts if Mike would be able to handle all three kids.  Now, I completely trust my husband in any circumstance with the kids - he is usually a very kind, loving, considerate, creative daddy.   But when I went in to say goodbye before I left, he looked up at me, quite pathetically, and pleaded "I don't know if I can handle him (Jacob) today."  Um, okay?  I reassured him that if Jacob was way too crazy, he could bring him to work, and my Mom would probably agree to watch him.  So we left it at that, and out the door I went!

 I think it was about 10:30 when Mike called me at work.  When I picked up the phone he says the most dreaded thing a mother could hear, "We are having a crisis at home!"  

So here's the story: Mike, like the good husband he is, was doing laundry.  Somehow the washing machine overflowed, or busted a gasket, or something catastrophic.  We're still not sure what happened, but the end result was the flooding of my house!  And since we had just installed new laminate flooring not yet 5 months ago, I was a little concerned.  I ran home with a wet/dry shop vac in tow.  Mike had managed to use every towel and blanket in the house to absorb most of the water.  It flowed down my hallway, through the living room, and even out of the front door!! After helping Mike suck up the three inches of water left in the bathroom and laundry closet, I left him to deal with the rest (which he did quite well...he even managed to take the kids on two bikerides!)!  

When I got home from work this evening I yanked out all the baseboards in hopes the sheetrock will dry and allow air to flow under the laminate.  Did I mention you can hear "squishing" when you walk?  Lovely.  So, now my house is a total mess.  It looks like we were victims of a very localized hurricane.  I pray my new floors aren't ruined! 

In addition to the fun our water works created, Jacob is still his normal handful.  He climbs on things I didn't even think were possible!  He has figured out how to push the dining table chairs around to whatever he deems worthy of climbing - so NOTHING is safe or "out of bounds" for him!  He is so proud of his accomplishment, when he reaches the top of whatever he's climbed, he'll stand there with huge smile and clap for himself.  What really concernes me is that he has no fear - there is no such thing as "too high".   His spirit for adventure makes it very difficult to get anything of significance done around the house.  We constantly have to keep one eye on him or rescue him from his perch on top of the refrigerator! 

So, props to the husband for dealing with the crisis.  Although, I'm not yet convinced it wasn't his fault!  Mike....are you sure you didn't stuff the washer like you usually do, and that's why it overflowed????  You can defend yourself by leaving me a nice comment. : )

I'll let you know if we have to call our homeowner's insurance to replace all our new floors!!  In the meantime we have decided this might be a nice time to paint the hallway, which we've been needing to do. I'll also be praying tomorrow is less eventful!  At least Mike will be at work, so he can't cause any more trouble! Heehee.

New Day

Okay, so far this day has been much more enjoyable than last night.   Being that it's my day off, I am home all day with the kids, of course.  The way the last two weeks have been with Jacob - he's cutting molars - I really wasn't looking forward to today.  I don't think he feels very well, but Gracie has been playing very nice with him, so he's been distracted.  We were supposed to go to a friends' house, whom we haven't seen in a couple of years, but she called this morning letting us know her 8 month old had a fever, so we will take a rain-check.  Fine with me.  I enjoy my days off more if I know I don't have to leave the house!  I do have to take Gracie to dance class in the afternoon, which breaks up the day, but I am glad to be able to stay home this morning.  I haven't gotten much done around the house - not very motivated, I guess.  I will need to kick it in gear, because after Gracie's dance I promised I would take her and Jacob to Boingos.  What?.... Boingos is a warehouse kind of building that have a couple different bounce houses, slides, and the like, that are usually found at birthday parties.  For $5 a kid they can play and bounce as long you can stand it!  Alterior motive?  Okay, yes, hopefully both kids will be tuckered out when we get home!  I'll try and remember to take the camera so I can share the action!   

Holy Cow!

Aye-Aye-Aye!!!  I am about at the end of my rope tonight.  And the scary thing is, it's only 6:00pm and the work has just begun for the night!  I have managed to drag two grouchy kids to the grocery store after work, chop up a million vegetables to make soup, and deal with a constantly noisy daughter, and very whiney son, who thinks the best way to get my attention while I'm making dinner is to push me away from the counter and cry!  I still have a house to pick up, dinner mess to address, baths to give, fights between siblings to calm....I'm sure there's more, I just don't want to think about it.   Yes, it's every mother's battle, but tonight I just don't feel like I have the right weapons (a sense of humor and patience).  8:30pm can't come fast enough tonight!

Today contains all the components of what usually makes a good day, but for some reason, I just can't shake this mood I'm in.  All the physical ingredients of life that satisfy my soul are present, so nothing seems to justify why or what I'm feeling.  I'm not necessarily grumpy, not sad, not mad, but I'm not happy, peaceful, or content either.  I guess the best way I can explain is with Holly Golightly, in one of my favorite movies "Breakfast At Tiffany's".  She describes her state of mind as "the mean reds".   She explains "....the blues are because you're getting fat or because it's been raining too long, you're just sad, that's all. But the mean reds are horrible.  Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of."  

While I sit here alone and do some inventory, I am also taking time for some introspection.  I realize again, there isn't anything palpable that justifies my "blues" and "reds".  My reasons aren't clear to the mind, or plain to see, but rather my perception, I guess.   So how do I change my perception when these moods settle in and make residence in my soul?    

Maybe I need quiet to refocus the lense I use to view my framework.  If I can learn how to adjust my lense, my perception, then maybe next time when the "blues" and "reds" creep into my psyche, I can send them on their way before any time is wasted.   For today, however, I am going to welcome them and embrace the solitary mood it mandates.