Back seat drivers

Why is it that a four year old thinks she has the ability to drive better than her mother. Really, I get yelled at to go when the light is red, told I am going the wrong way and to go faster because,"it is taking for a long time." I wonder how long after they have driver's licenses before I can return the favor?

Life comes at you fast.

I need to start this off by saying, "I LOVE HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA!!!!" Really, I do. Even when it is cold in the middle of winter. My trip was a much appreciated break from the usual mommy stuff that comes with being the mom. I must say being married to the Rocket Scientist has endless perks for me. Not many can boast about being sent on a "momcation" by their spouse and then have him brag about how much fun he had. Yes, he was really bragging about how much fun it was.



While I was there, one of the things I feared, did happen. My sweet 95 year-old grandmother passed away. She passed away not once but twice while we were away. I am not sure if that made it easier dealing with her passing or if just meant getting sad news twice. She has had a pace maker for years. So, as I understand it, she passed away, hospice notified the appropriate people, and sometime later the postmortem nurse shows up to do her thing and finds my grandmother breathing. You know, that pace maker noticed her heart was not beating and started to do it's job. So a day later, she made peace with her pace maker and passed away for good. Sorry, this is little morbid. I have two ways of dealing with death. They are shutting down and being completely dysfunctional or humor. This time around, there is a bit of both. Her obituary can be found at this link. http://www.larkinmortuary.com/opc_sop_o.php?obituary_idx=2856&search=&sort=death_date%20DESC&PHPSESSID=d0b53e7e20f3a8999960ff191f8d8355

If you have ever lost a loved one who had to struggle for quality of life, no matter how short the time, you know what a relief their passing can be. Somehow though, that relief never dulls the sting of the loss. My grandmother was a character. I love her dearly. I didn't live near her until I was a teenager. I can honestly say that she helped smooth out a lot of my teen years. She took me to my first opera and my first ballet. She would negotiate with my dad (her son) on my behalf. I remember one time in particular when my father didn't want to let me go to a church dance. After many tears, my grandma said she would handle it. Turned out I got to go! A day or two later, I asked her how she did that. She smiled and said, "I just asked him how he felt when I didn't let him go to church dances?" She was the best grandma for me as a teenager. She had such a profound influence on my life that the Little Jamaican has my grandmother's name as her middle name. I will miss her dearly.

While I was away on my trip, we found out the Rocket Scientist's company no longer needs us to relocate. What a relief that is. As much as I love Huntsville, I really do not want to move right now.

One last thing........Krista, thank you for the birthday wishes. You are way too good to me. That is quite a bit to live up to. So, I will try not to let it stress me out. :)

Boneless White Meat......

Oh the things I hear as a mother...........Do you have a meat preference? There might be a meat preference in my house. Let me explain.


The other day I hear from the back seat, "What is skin made of?" Well before the Rocket Scientist or I have a chance to respond we hear the Wild Child tell her sister, "Boneless white meat." Trying to stifle my laughter I suddenly find myself wondering if this is true no matter the shade of your skin. So, when I could control myself, I had to ask. I was assured by the Wild Child that all skin is "boneless white meat." So there you have it. If you were ever wondering. While I am on the topic of "boneless white meat" you should pop over and say "hi" to my friend Krista before she has surgery.

On a new subject, I am truly struggling to keep up on my blog right now. Life keeps throwing twist and turns my direction. Please, let me be clear. I love the twists and turns. It is what makes life fun. However, said ride, is sucking up an awful lot of time and energy.

We have been offered an opportunity to make a move with my husbands employment. I love living in new places. I love learning about the local culture, meeting new people, getting to know the geography. I really love looking at the architecture and how different it is in different parts of our nation. I detest the moving part. I don't like looking for a new school for my kids. I hate the sleep deprivation that is always involved in a move. I hate leaving my friends behind. I am a decent long distance friend, but it's not the same as being able to call up a friend and say, "Hey, let's go get chocolate faced tonight." or the "We have a sitter, let's do dinner tonight." There is so much comfort in established relationships. For me, it provides a sense of belonging, to have a few friends close by to laugh and cry with. Friends to escape with, friends who make you feel like you can take on the world. I am also not fond of the unpacking part. If you need proof, come look at my basement. We have been here almost two years and there are still boxes of which I know the content of, that I have not unpacked. I just haven't felt like it. (This can be problematic, since there are things I need in those boxes from time to time, so I will pull an item or two out and leave the rest of box disheveled. This makes my basement look a bit like a bomb went off.) We have yet to make a decision, but I imagine we will have to make it soon.

If this were not enough to think about, I have a grandmother, my father's mother, and grandfather, my mother's father that seem to be under the impression that their bodies are wearing out. I have wonderful grandparents. The thought of it being their "time" is too much for me right now. (Trust me, I get it, I don't really have a say in the matter.) They are both in their 90's so I get that it is unreasonable for me to think they will be around for another 25 years. Still, I wish that the quality of their lives where better and that they could be around for another 25 years. And as I sit here and type this, I feel very selfish for letting get to me like this. You know that my sweet Rocket Scientist had lost both of his parents by the time he was thirty.

Did I mention that I am married to the best guy ever? I may have eluded to that a time or two. For my birthday this month, he is sending my sister and I out of town for 5 whole days. That is 5 whole days of no kids, no laundry, no dishes and hopefully good sleep. So I am frantically working on getting myself ready for a trip to Alabama on Thursday. Will you all say a prayer that my grandparents hang in there till I get back? Thank you.

So back to my first topic.......boneless white meat. Anybody have a simple, accurate answer that I can give my kids on what skin is made of? Seriously......where does the Wild Child come up with these things?

I'm Bugged!

Do you all remember this? Well, I did finally win that battle. That's great, right? Well, you all are aware, I am sure, that it is January in the northern hemisphere. So one might think logically, that perhaps, I might run across a few spiders, but that there should not be many bugs. I am not a fan of the eight-legged land dwellers, but I can deal with a few here and there. You also could say I am not even bothered by a few six-leggeds here or there either. That all being said, I have killed a variety of bugs this week in my house. Bugs that should not be alive in January in northern Utah. The one that has me the most perplexed, though, is this.

If you can't tell from my bad photography, it is a ladybug. If it was the first ladybug it would not be so surprising based on the variety of bugs I have seen this week. This is one of many I have seen in the past three months. It's almost like the insects and the arachnids had a meeting and said, "Yea, we heard the ladybugs say it was a good place to winter, but, if you try it, you are on you own." Hands down, I have seen more ladybugs than anything else.

If it's a "good" bug can it still be called an infestation?

Ever Feel Like This?

Lately it seems that choices have been flying at me, rapid fire, so to say. I wonder if I have this same expression and head tilt.

Actually, have been thinking about choices and how they affect my life. Some choices are a given that you have to make the right one or it's not going to be pretty. Then there are the choices that just don't matter. It's neither of those choices that are on my mind right now. It's most of those choices in the middle causing me some distress. They are the choices that have a profound effect on your life, but are not life threatening. The choices that you make and second guess yourself for years. As I have been thinking about these type of choices, I have started to notice a common theme in what I call the good choices. It's not how easy it has been to live with my choice, it's how my attitude has been about my choice. It's the way I chose to look at the choice I made. If I chose to look for the good or the bad in my choice. Not that I am not suggesting that there are not lessons to learn from every painful situation, but that there is always good and I'm much happier when I look for it.

So.......when faced with a choice that challenges you, how do you make your decision? Please share with me, since I have several big choices to make and could use some help.

Road Kill

Are you all waiting for me to have an original thought? Me too! It seems lately that so much information is coming in that there is no time for me to think. Kind of like getting ran over on the information highway. That said, I had the lovely opportunity of reiterating to the 1st One of my thoughts on pierced ears.

You see, my mom had never had ears pierced, then about five years ago, she decided that she would pierce her ears so that she could wear her earrings. It was very short lived. She just couldn't leave them open. The thought of putting something through her ears really just grossed her out. So my stance on piercing ears is a lot different than most moms.

I decided that it was my child's choice, since it is my child's body. Knowing that this would not be a good choice for a three year old to make, I decided that I needed to pick an age that would be both appropriate and an age where they would be responsible for caring for them themselves. My religion refers to age eight as the age of accountability. Sounded good to me. We have such few rules like this that you would think that this would not be a huge deal. That......is what I get for thinking. My seven and a half year old is freaking out that she has to wait a whole 5 months to have her ears pierced. I must be the meanest mom out there.

Looking for an adrenalin rush?

The Rocket Scientist's cousin sent me a link to this today. It was so crazy to me, I had to share with you. Part me says, "I would love to try it." The rational part of me says, "Ummmm, ya, I don't think so." Either way, worth the few minutes to watch.

wingsuit base jumping from Ali on Vimeo.

Christmas Past

I love the holidays!!! I know you can't tell from your end of blog-land that there is no sarcasm in that statement. All that being said, I am thrilled when they have passed. I am exhausted!!! I love seeing family and friends, the Christmas lights, the decorations. I love the warmth I feel through the season. Even though it is a let down when it's over, it is also a relief.

I am not sure that I have the words to articulate what a wonderful season of warmth, hope and happiness it has been. So I will try and show you with some photos. Some of the photos are courtesy of the Rocket Scientist's SIL.