8.31.2009

one step up, two steps back

wow, no posts since aug 16? what's wrong with me? if i ever hope to have a full website that people actually visit and want to read, i had better be more consistent. sometimes i wonder if i will ever catch up. and what does being 'caught up' consist of anyway? housework is ongoing, as is school and MANY other things that i am technically responsible for. is being 'caught up' even attainable? perhaps i should set another goal.

at any rate, after setting up a computer completely from scratch 3 times in the last month, i sure hope that progress is being made. still using a cheesy pre-designed blog template instead of my own. still trying to get school fully running again. still trying to make headway with this job decision for next year. hmmmm...all this sounds vaguely familiar. have i not made any progress at all since last month?

8.16.2009

priceline scores again

i've heard rumors of people out there who dislike priceline. i'm not sure if they're true or not. but as many times as i've used their website for bidding on travel, i've NEVER been disappointed. my mom is coming to visit at the end of the month. there are 2 hotels within a mile of our place. the doubletree has online rates starting at $150/night. the marriott has online rates starting at $179/night. i went through my research process like always. i had 4 free rebid zones and plenty of time since it's only the 16th. i started low. the last winning bid was $67 for dates very close to mine and i fully expected to pay at least that. but you just never can tell what will happen, so i started at $53 and planned on working my way up. i just laughed out loud when my first bid was accepted for the doubletree!! gotta LOVE priceline! with flights for under $200 into SD airport and hotel for $53, i don't want to hear anyone say they can't afford to come visit! of course you could stay at our place on an air mattress for free.

8.13.2009

just how the cards fell

i've always sort of been a loner. i'm the type who will have a lot of acquaintances and know things about a lot of people. i seem to remember small details and keep track of who's doing what. but i've never been the kind to have the same group of friends since the age of 5 'til death do us part, while traveling the world together. it always seemed like a great idea, but it just wasn't meant to be i guess. i don't really fit with most people. i never figured i would like being married either. i just figured it was the thing to do. plus, i think people mislead themselves into believing that what someone else has is what will make them happy, even if they don't truly want it. and i was no different. then after i started dating, i figured i would never find someone i could stand to be around for any length of time, let alone live with. well, by some odd shift of the cosmos, i met the love of my life before i was even 21. i was definitely disappointed he crossed my path so soon, but what could i do? we like the same foods, we agree on how to spend money, we love the same climate and similar adventures, and best of all we have the same life goals and philosophies. sure there are differences. our personalities are very different. but i knew how much of a miracle it was to be able to find someone that actually 'fit' with me. and i've been reminded of it countless times in the past 15 years. for me, to have someone actually 'get me' when i speak is a rarity to say the least.

i do get lonely when he's away and feel very alone when there's no time for us to talk. i don't get too involved in conversations on beach day or at playgroups. i sometimes wish i had pictures in my scrapbook of me and my 3 other life-long friends on our trip to italy or mexico. i wish sometimes i could say that the girls i grew up with were the same that flew in for my wedding and that also flew in for the birth of all 4 of my children. this goes back to the line of thinking that if someone else has something that makes them happy, then you are therefore missing out on something if you don't have the same. at any rate... even though i sometimes wish for what i think might be missing i am glad that i have someone that i 'fit' with. if i had to choose between life-long travel buddies or having a spouse that really understands me, i definitely go for the latter.

i don't do big posts for birthdays or holidays or whatever. not much into tradition. about a month ago we had our 14 year anniversary. it's been an adventurous 14 years. i'm glad the doc found me.

8.11.2009

veg out

tuesday has arrived and it has made most things all better. thanks for suffering through monday with me. now on to more important topics...

i have, for the most part, given up meat. i should say that my body has given it up, i didn't really make a conscious effort to change. over the past several months it's just gotten worse and worse. i can tolerate less and less. i keep trying, as if giving it up would do some harm to my body, but my body just isn't having it. i can eat about as much as marz can and she's no big eater. i can't explain what happened. i have no idea where it's come from. but it just grosses me out to eat it. i can still tolerate and still love fish. if my body starts to reject fish i will be very sad. but it's definitely now a challenge to find things to cook where i can either leave the meat portions for everyone else, or not put meat in altogether. no i don't feel sorry for the animal really. yes i believe the majority of society eats way too much meat and it's unhealthy. so i don't have a problem at all with going vegetarian, as far as the food and philosophy are concerned. but it's just being able to feed the rest of my family and keep them happy that is now stumping me. stay tuned as i learn more about the word of wisdom, our bodies and how they process things, and about the giant raw food world that i have discovered.

8.10.2009

zero visibility

there's a fog covering my brain and i can't seem to lift it. why is it that i have no job and no schedule and mondays still just shut me down? it's the concept of a monday that society has built up i guess. mondays are when you start fresh and get everything done. mondays are when you recover from the slack of the weekend. mondays are when you set goals and start the race. mondays are when you have all the energy because you rested all weekend. i don't think mondays have ever been any of those things for me. mondays are when all the things i've ignored for 2 days come crashing down on me. mondays are when i can't remember what's on my to-do list even though i wrote it down the night before. mondays are when i just can't seem to get dressed and out of the house (okay - i hear laughter from some of you. yes i realize that part isn't much different from the rest of the week).

i am bugged by all the recipes i have in my repertoire, and therefore have not been cooking much. i know that i'm being prompted to make a change in our eating habits once again and i've been dragging my feet. i need to get on the stick and dredge up some new recipes so we can push forward with this change. it's still hard to accommodate the last change when we leave the walls of our home. i know this next one will be even worse and i'm not looking forward to it. yet progress must be. we can't stay where we are.

i am overwhelmed with the thoughts of getting the kids 'back to school'. several subjects x 3 kids, and i've only planned the first 6 weeks of 1. most of luigi's year will be different from the last as he needs to separate from the group and start picking up harder work. i'm not ready for the fight. but am i ever? i know i feel better when i sit and plan everything out, but why does the sense of accomplishment have to come only after all the torture?

for some reason doctor and dentist appointments are abound. and all at the time that we can't prove we have insurance. numerous phone calls to different places and it's getting to be tiresome and monotonous. why do you have your employees start a job and not set them up with their benefits? and couldn't the bodies and teeth wait to get sick until after the insurance is all settled and processed? i mean really.

someone please tell me that the arrival of tuesday will provide a better view.

8.08.2009

head over heels

i LOVE LOVE LOVE living in SD. i know it's only for a year and i'm going to bask in it as long as i can. we visited our local farmer's market today. now, understand that there are NUMEROUS farmer's markets all over SD and on any day of the week you choose to find one. but the one that is just a few minutes from us is on saturday afternoons. how perfect for us. it goes along with the perfect weather. there was perfect produce, perfect flowers, perfect empanadas, perfect hummus, perfect pitas, perfect jewelry, perfect hand-made african baskets, and some perfectly yummy strawberry raspberry lemonade. we picked up some perfect blueberry agave syrup, some perfect vegetarian tamales, perfect strawberries and dip. it was heavenly.

8.06.2009

quick blitz

i haven't really wanted to take the time to write lately. seems i have fleeting thoughts that i can post to twitter quickly, but just can't seem to pull together anything that amounts to paragraphs. but i wanted to give some sort of quick update to what's going on around here. at the same time, i'll apologize for the boring background that wasn't even up when the month changed. my laptop is still complaining about being ill, and now has to be sent off to the gateway repair center where it will have in-patient care for almost 2 weeks. such a bummer. in the meantime, i'll succumb to using a background made by someone else.

at any rate, let's see if i can speedily sum up the last 6 weeks or so....

the drive out to SD was definitely long, but kids were better than expected and we survived. we went to vegas for the 4th, the doc left to work in indiana, i had friends visiting for a week, then sent the 11 yr old (whom i desperately need a nickname for - suggestions welcomed) to girl's camp. visited with a friend from college, took another trip back to vegas, then flew to alabama to take a look at a job for next year. among all this we had beach days, bad sunburns, a broken finger, pool time, dentist and dr appts, visits to the zoo, temple and wild animal park, celebrated 4 birthdays, discovered seals on the beach, set up utilities and made new friends. we've had unlovely dealings with HR personnel and a health insurance company. we've had long distance maintenance of a vacant house with water damage. we've had numerous visits to the SD airport and many trips to the store for fans since our place has no a/c.

we are enjoying our new ward and being a short few miles from the ocean. we are loving the weather that has zero rain and are excited to explore all that SD has to offer once everyone goes back to school and crowds die down. the doc is doing well with his 5.6 mile (one way) bike commute to and from work. he gets to ride along the beach. we are glad to have a great library system again, and our branch is less than 2 miles away. i love that i can send luigi walking or 'scooting' to the store when i need something quick for dinner.

up and coming on the horizon...dental surgery at the children's hospital for dash next week, continued weeding through of job opportunities from numerous recruiters in hopes to have a contract signed before the end of october, wrapping up repairs in jersey and praying that the house sells SOON, waving goodbye to my laptop hoping it will return safely from it's repair trip, gathering my thoughts to get school back up and running, reorganizing our meal plan and restructuring the family eating habits. i think i should stop there. the list could run on forever.

hope all is well with all of you. i'll try to suffer through editing some pics once i get my laptop back to healthy standing.