It's like this...

People make me crazy. Sometimes I think I would seriously be happy living on a sandy beach somewhere with no other PEOPLE around. Judgmental, cranky, irritating people. People who can't help but put in their two cents worth on everything you do. People who, oh just for the halibut, enjoy engaging in lengthy conversations about you because ....well, just because. I'm not even sure I'd take my dog, as she's on my nerves right now. Oh yeah....Fa la la la....la la la friggin' la! On the plus side today, I spent some time with my two youngest daughters. We went to the gym and swam laps then we went up to Alderwood and I bought myself some unmentionables with my birthday money (Thanks Mom and Dad!) Then I treated my girls to a dinner at Red Lobster. Just the three of us. We ate, we laughed and we had a wonderful time. And not ONCE during the entire evening did the waitress question my parenting skills or my clothing. I'm also fairly certain that my waitress didn...

Despite what many of you may think---I am thankful for many things in my life. Many, many things. Even the hard things that have made me stronger, though I might not have seen it at the time. It's never fun going through the refiners fire but it's always worth it. I'm grateful for my husband. He's the kindest, most gentle man on the planet. We have been through a great deal in our marriage and he's either a glutton for punishment or he really loves me because he's still by my side. He's always been a hard worker and good provider for the family. I love him. I'm thankful for my oldest daughter Stephanie--or Tep as the kids call her. Nearly 21 years ago she made me a mommy for the first time. She taught me the real meaning of love and how you can absolutely love another person so much that you would literally walk through fire for them. I admire her dedication to her physical health and I'm grateful that she's beginning to see the benefits ...

Are you old enough to remember the show Hee Haw? There was this little shtick they did about bad luck. It goes something like this: Sometimes our life is like an episode of Hee Haw. A few weeks ago our small car was sitting there minding it's own business and someone ran into it. Not only did they run into it, they ran off. A hit and run that totaled the car, according to our insurance company. It also rendered the driver's side door permanently stuck closed. Anyone driving the car has to climb in the passenger side to, clamber over the console and plop into the driver's seat. It's a lovely gymnastic adventure--especially if you're wearing a dress. Last night at work the car was hit again . This time someone at hubby's work hit it in the front right corner, popping the door permanently OPEN . At least this time the guy left a note with his insurance info on it. Not that it's going to do us any good.

Monday Lance and I had a delicious and delightful meeting at Children's Hospital to talk about how we were indentured to them for the remainder of our natural lives due to Allison's recent week long incarceration there. I think they'd like a part of us after we pass on as well, but I'm not quite sure how that's going to to work out. After we finished there we stopped by to visit Peggy--she of the Pt/ot department and Ashley's dearest friend there at the hospital. (We love her too) Peggy was with a lady and her grandson at the time and before we'd arrived they'd apparently been talking about us . Now of course we know why our ears were burning. Barbara and her grandson Kyle were here from Idaho and Kyle has a lot of the same issues as Ashley and so they invited us to come visit them at their hotel on Tuesday night and spend some time in the pool and visiting. There was talk of pizza and root beer and thus I was rendered incapable of saying no. When w...

After a rather horrifying week, we decided to pull up stakes and head to the mountains in search of white powdery escape. In other words...snow. I love this child more than I can ever put into words. Behold..my Alli. We went to Steven's Pass where we discovered some snow...but not enough for our liking. Lance and Ashley seemed to enjoy it. They went down small hills in inner tubes and landed hard. Thankfully there was no breaking of bones, just a jarring of the heads and spinal columns. After sliding around for a bit, we went to Leavenworth. Oh we love Leavenworth. We loved it so much that we spent the night. Ashley ran up to our room on the the third floor and yelled down the from the balcony to us as we were gathering our gear, "Our room is FANTASTIC! It has EVERYTHING!!" She was so excited. And by 'everything', she must have meant two queen sized beds, a tv, a bathroom and a couch. It was everything we needed. We discovered that playing in the snow re...

I drive around a lot. I mean A LOT. I spend so much time in my vehicle that I've contemplated putting in a kitchen and a bathroom to make it more comfortable for me. I also tend to keep a box of protein bars with me as I don't get to come home during the day most of the time. Plus, I go to the gym twice a day and I get hungry and don't want to visit a fast food restaurant because it would nullify the effects of going to the gym. I told you that to tell you this. Last night I took my girls to their church activities. As we pulled up to a corner, there was a homeless man with a cardboard sign. I've seen him there before and I've given him a protein bar before. He was very nice and gracious and thanked me. Not this time. Alli was in the passenger seat so I asked her to hand it to him. She was reluctant, but put her window down, held it out and said "Sir? would you like a bar?" He came over to us and said that he doesn't often drink hard whiskey ...

And by heaven I mean the beach cabin. We went over after church so Lance's Dad could work on his back. The girls and I headed straight for the cabin where I built a pretty good campfire, if I do say so myself. We made some hobo stew and walked the sand. We watched the moon rise.... We watched the ferries glide back and forth across the Sound... We saw something almost as rare! A smile from Alli! We also had Grandpa Doug join us for some stew and laughs. I have many, many more pictures. Seems I somehow managed to take about 92 of 'em but I'm tired and it's late and I think I'll go crawl into bed and enjoy the smell of the campfire in my hair.