Progress?

Here I am, actually blogging. Shocking, eh? I know! (Craig Ferguson voice.)

Blogosophere, don't feel neglected - it's bad enough that my lovely stepmother called me to see if I was alive. Yes, she agrees my father could call me. He doesn't. Unless it's my birthday. I don't take it personally anymore but when things get going enough that life is especially crazy, I don't think of calling him until 8:30 p.m. and then he's asleep. I reassured her I'm still alive and think about them lots. We'll probably try and run down over Thanksgiving weekend. Turkey Day itself will be quietly at home. TH has to have hernia surgery two days before so he will be moving gingerly I am sure.

(Hernia surgery? Seriously? Old people have hernias. Oh, he's 47 you say? Oh my heck.)

Big Bit is doing well at College of Idaho. He's taking midterms this week, has made a few friends and is ready for his fall break next week, in which he will take Reno on for several days. His Dad is doing well, the cancer seems to have been a scare and not a glaring reality, for which I am deeply thankful.

Little Bit is cruising through 6th grade fairly well, as has been the case each year there are less issues with the transition. I'm a little concerned about the transition to junior high. No, let me be honest. I'm terrified. He's so intelligent but emotionally a little immature - and holding him back academically would be a disaster. His counselor that he's been seeing for a while now suggested a charter school here in Boise that has a junior high. We're seriously considering it. It's not far from TH's work so that wouldn't be especially problematic but it has a lottery so who knows if he'd actually get in anyway. There's also a private school that might be an option. (ouch.)

Not getting the potential job seems to have been a blessing in disguise, but the current one is driving me starkers as they say in the UK. Still, it is better than unemployment, so I will strive to persevere.

The Packers beat the Vikings. You may not have heard. This of course was huge. I'm still grinning. Now if Nevada beats BSU my football experience for this year may hit it's zenith. Those Oregon Ducks are the team I'm rooting for otherwise. ;)

My birthday is Saturday and unfortunately I didn't win the Packers trip to see the Jets game and the new Broadway play Lombardi this weekend. Sigh. Nor can I go to the Rally for Sanity, as much fun as that would be. Little Bit wants to go to Boo at the Zoo Saturday so that should be fun. He's going to be Harry Potter. I promise to post pictures of that.

I promise to be a little more active here. Now that it's dark, I'm not tempted to spend all of my time outside.

Talk Thursday - My My Time Flies

I have been a horrible Talk Thursday participant - sorry Cele! But I will try to be better.

I haven't posted - after the documented upheaval I really just decompressed. New Year's Eve we were supposed to go to either friend Dana's or friend Rhonda's, but it started to snow around 5 p.m. and mix in slick roads, the intent to have a few drinks and the fact that it's "amateur night" so I really hate to go out in crowds anymore...we stayed home.

It was our 15th wedding anniversary...time does fly. I don't know why this one hit home more to me than number 14...but it really did. I've spent 1/3 of my life married to TH, far more than I was with EHFH. And, I still like him. (Yes, there are days but that's how it works).

It seems yesterday I was a somewhat wounded 27 year old, pretty sure that marriage wasn't for me, my son was going to be an only child because his first two years had been the hardest of my life (and I was starting to wonder how anyone's marriage withstood having children, even a planned one as Big Bit was) and my intent from then on was to date different guys, have lots of friends and an active social life and, in short, live a very different life than that I had to that point. The sole exception to this (other than the rest of my family) was Big Bit. He I really had committed to for life and that wasn't going anywhere, not that I wanted it to.

So, there I was, 1994, first week in Boise, had a boyfriend I was dating prior to moving (no, I didn't move here for him, which could be a book in itself) and through him a roommate who turned out to be complicated but for the time being was a lot of fun to hang out with, made the lots of friends. On this night I was on the town with my cousin, and who did I meet but...yep. TH.

I had been divorced, I think, a little over a month. Yeah, I know. I really do know and I know what I would have said to someone who was in the same situation. "You idiot!"

It didn't start off like that. I didn't hear from him for well over a week and a half. And in fact when he called I didn't know who he was. *Cough* No, it's not that bad but I have a short memory.

Suffice it to say six months, a whole lotta drama later, more than one meeting with Big Bit and lots of discussion and soul searching on both our parts, we got married. 12/31/94. And I will never, never be sorry we did. Not only do I still love him, but I have my second Bit. And I treasure him beyond measure, as I do with the first.

And while I do have friends and something of a social life, it's not anything like I envisioned when I moved to Boise. And that is just fine with me.

I love you TH. Time does fly.

One Year

One year ago, I was working my very last day in Utah.

One year ago, I was nervously walking into my new workplace, knowing only that I was very glad to be home whatever came. What a difference a year has made...and yet in some ways it hasn't. I can't speak for TH, but I know I've never looked back and said "why did we move back?" Yet, it took several months before I really felt like this was real and we were back. Now Utah seems like a pretty distant memory. I e-mailed last week with a co-worker from that job who got promoted when Sybil left - she had been named as the replacement shortly before I interviewed in Boise. The last year, for her, has been pretty hellish from the sounds of things. While I definitely felt for her, it made me so glad not to be in the middle of all that strife and bickering and defying the Mothership's not so good intentions towards employees.

I learned a lot in Utah. Some not so good, some good. I love Deron Williams and the Utah Jazz. I hate Utah drivers. I will not go into the whole "majority rules" thing except to say one thing I think Barack Obama did wrong is getting Jon Huntsman out of Utah, since he seemed committed to everyone living their own lives.

Being in Idaho has been a good thing for Little Bit. His teacher this year seems simply awesome. He's doing his homework without (hardly) any battling. It's been good for us because as we decompress from the high pressure atmosphere we get to look around more and say - "Wow, we're old!" Just kidding, but we do get to look around, at least.

Big Bit has turned into such a grown up. Which is really depressing, yet uplifting. His criticisms of the EHFH are spot on, and I suspect his criticisms of me are also, though he is kind enough to keep those to himself. But the one thing I've found, and I'm old enough to know this (one tends to forget things one doesn't want to remember) - what your problems are, they are. Some of them might be exacerbated by where you live, or where you work, or the friends that you have, but ultimately, they are YOUR responsibility. And I take that to heart, as I approach yet another (gads!) birthday. I've got lots to work on, but I've got lots of opportunity in this beautiful place to do so.

Oh yeah, and Purple Judas still sucks.

And I have seven months of child support left.

Just sayin'.

Thank You, Mr. Utility Worker and Other Thoughts

It almost froze last night (our plants look like it even though we covered them up) and I thought it was going to be a horrible day weatherwise but now it's quite pleasant and I'm getting ready to go for a walk.

Why am I home at 3:07 p.m. you may ask? Well, some really, really smart guy who was digging a big hole in our parking lot at work DUG UP THE POWER SUPPLY. Call before you dig, guys, seriously. This happened around 11 a.m. The phones (sort of) works - you couldn't call in but you could call out, so after a couple of conference calls and lunch we all gave up and they closed the building. Our building is part of a bigger complex and of all of the buildings, who was the only one out of power? Ours. Who really wasn't in the mood today to work? Me. As my friend the Donnalama says "I didn't know you had such power". I KNOW! Me either! Now to turn my powers to good not evil, haha.

Other random thoughts - I hope Brett gets pounded just about as hard as you can without serious mental or permanent physical injury Monday night. I may have to squeeze into my T-Shirt that shrunk such that Little Bit wears it to bed that says "My Favorite Team is the Packers and Whoever Plays the Vikings". Special meaning this year, that. I am hopeful that when we play in Green Bay in November we will win because the "Old Man" doesn't like the cold anymore and has to play in a dome, but I'm not too sure about this one. Like when the "Loins" (t2ed's term) won, if the Packers win this weekend it may be time to "get right with the Lord" (again, his term). It may be the second sign of the apocalypse. Or third, if my power outage is a true sign of my power.

Bg Bit comes tomorrow which means a) Yay, we get to see him! and b) Four weeks until Disneyland and his college visit.

If you haven't yet checked out the Disney Channel's show "Phineas and Ferb", you most definitely should. It's witty for both kids and parents, and features a most awesome band doing its theme song and some of the musical numbers (Love Handel is one of my favorite episodes) - that is - the breathtaking Bowling for Soup. (Cele, Burp would LOVE it if he hasn't seen it already.)

Lastly, I heard this song coming home - how is it that a song that came out when I was but a few months old could be a) so fresh today and b) one of my favorite songs ever, much less of the band who plays it? Enjoy. Hope you're getting some sunshine in too where you are. Oh, it snowed in Utah and I wasn't there. YAY!!! (Pants, Yvette, I know it's pretty but come on.)

Well, Maybe Not

Well, the Pack is Back may have been premature (but I really wasn't gloating just happy). All I have to say is on 11/1 if the Vikings don't go down the ghost of Vince Lombardi and Curly Lambeau will rise up and crush Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson.

Go Pack.

In other "news", we're just plugging along. Little Bit is doing exceedingly well in school, even if I do say so myself, we're planning our trip to Disneyland for Big Bit's college research at Concordia Irvine (also known as I GET TO GO TO DISNEYLAND FOR MY BIRTHDAY! WOOT!) and work is work for TH and I. We feel a little lost not being part of the Mothership because there was such a sense of purpose in our work; now we just have jobs. That's harder to adjust to than we thought. Our indoctrination was thorough and complete, obviously.

And, yes, Cele, I will get my 99 things post done by October 30. I promised. I keep my promises (Pastor Grumm's comments at the time of my divorce notwithstanding).

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I have been a bad, pathetic, blogger this summer. I don't have much to blame it on per se - Big Bit has been here (but he's 17 and doesn't always want ol' Mom around), Little Bit has been enjoying his first summer vacation ever (but he's 10 and pretty self sufficient, not to mention going to Just For Kids three days a week), Mom moved up which has been fun (but as Big Bit says, it seems like cousin Danny sees her way more than we do), I haven't golfed, I camped exactly once -last weekend - I went on vacation for one week - I went to Alive After 5 a lot - I rode bikes and walked some but that damned plantar fascitis has really cut into my resolution to get fit and healthy. I listened to a lot of jazz at Hotel 43. I saw Curtis Stigers sitting at a table right by me in Bar Gernika. Yes, he is that cute. If you don't know who he is, he's an Idaho treasure and you should check him out.

What else have I been doing? Maybe if I show enough, I will be off the hook for being a bad friend (in some ways) and family member (in other ways). Or maybe not.

We went to Kevin and Sam's wedding. Kevin is my cousin Danny's son. I don't know Danny or any of his family really well, but I love Danny to bits. He was out of touch with our family for many years due to his mom's divorce from my maternal uncle but resurfaced relatively recently and has established contact with us - my Mom and Aunt in particular. I wish we were closer. Kevin is a great guy and his wedding was really neat. Laid back and really of the essence of him from what I know.

Kevin's sister, Kelli, looks exactly like my cousin Connie who died when I was very small (3?). I remember her vividly because she was simply beautiful and always had these beautifully manicured hands (in my recollection). Plus she really seemed to like me, and for a teenager to really be delighted in me seemed unusual. The first time I saw Kelli was at HER wedding a few years ago and my heart literally caught in my throat. It still does when I see her because I've just never seen that kind of likeness. I always hoped Big Bit would look like his namesake, another cousin of mine, but except for a really pissy impish look he gets when he wants to be cute I haven't seen it.



Another wedding - (boy, with my father in law's escapades it's been a real summer of weddings - Little Bit kept saying "ANOTHER wedding?"). This one was really special though and to Little Bit as well as the rest of us. Our friend R's daughter got married. S was Little Bit's babysitter from when he was 8 weeks old until really just before we moved to Utah (so we could go out on date night) - she was I think almost 13 when she started. She watched Big Bit as well, though we usually spent all of our time with him when he was at our house. Little Bit loved her from day one. When he was two, he'd wander through the house saying shrieking her name at the top of his lungs, so excited was he that she was coming to play with him. She handled him like an expert. He has her senior picture on his bulletin board to this day.



In addition, I got to see my old boss from the Mothership (the Boise one, not SYBIL, for heaven's sake). I love Jenny, I didn't get any pictures of her, but her daughter, another graduate of the University of S babysitting service came to the wedding with her Mom and we got a picture for S to remember her former charges. I also got to have dinner with Jenny the following night and therefore got to enjoy her company and uplifting faith in me. I have the same faith in Jenny. We're neither of us perfect by any means, but we do have faith in each other's possibilities. That is a rare thing.




Little Bit took swimming lessons. He hadn't been to Wings for a few years, and we could never find a place in Utah for him to take lessons, so it was good for him to refresh his knowledge and learn to tread water. He did well and listened so good to the instructor! It's amazing what a few years and some meds have done for his attention span.



Big Bit got his senior photos taken...sigh. I can't post any of them due to copyright issues but you may get to see some of them in an announcement or here if I can get that part resolved. Ouch, said my wallet, but they turned out beautifully. In the meantime, here's "Diddy" in a self portrait. He looks stinkin' grown up and I feel stinkin' old. He got to go to Japan this summer which was a good thing for him. The good thing for me was when he sent an e-mail lamenting we couldn't talk on the phone (he didn't want to take a phone card because his friends weren't calling home) and he wanted to vent about something. And he missed me. It's nice to be needed, isn't it?





We went on vacation on the coast of Oregon with our friends the Hydes. We hadn't gotten to spend this much time with them in eons and it was fun - I think we all enjoyed it enough we'd do it again, eh?

The boys enjoyed the house.



Little Bit and his friend K Hyde had a lot of fun together. One of my favorite photos of them, I think then age 6 and 5 was at the Seattle Aquarium. This one's at the Newport Aquarium and it is very cute as well.



I think there's a picture of us all together - but it's not on my camera - please share Ms. Hyde?

On this trip I also met Cele! We met in the blogosphere a while back and I was excited to meet her, and as an added bonus we also met her husband, Ducky (he is just Ducky too). We all liked meeting Cele and Ducky, though as usual I was somewhat shy at first meeting. Big Bit mentioned just the other day how much he liked Cele. He, too, is somewhat shy at first meeting but we like the same kinds of people generally speaking. Other than the fact she likes the BSU football team for some reason, I thought she was simply awesome.

We went to Shakespeare with Steve, too, and I have a picture of the asshat we sat behind to prove it. (Actually, we went to Shakespeare five times, but once was with Steve, the only time we sat by an asshat...hm....). Since I think it's on my cell phone camera, and since you really don't want to see a picture of him anyway, trust me, with his beer bottles lying everywhere and taking up an acre of ground...but I may add it later. It's the great Idaho land grab, as Steve says. A Shakespearean tradition.

We went to Kaikoa's birthday party. He is Kelli's son, who just turned one, and he is a true Hawaiian (his dad is from Hawaii) - laid back, he all but exudes island charm. He's a cutie.

Now, Big Bit has jetted off to Nevada to start his senior year, we meet Little Bit's teacher tomorrow night and I have as yet not done so, so many things I wanted to do, including keeping in better touch. I'm about to embark on the attempted conquest of a variety of self-improvement projects, much as Little Bit embarks on a conquest of Fifth Grade as Big Bit gets ready to conquer the world. It's time to kick butt and take names, kids. Wish me luck.

I'm a Survivor

I'm glad it's my off Monday and I don't have anything pressing to do beyond putting in the garden (already 1/2 done) and general housecleaning. We've been pushing so hard getting the house ready for the party last weekend - which I totally FAILED to take pictures of and then this weekend we had another event we had to attend. Yes, I said had to because I think that's how we all felt. Except for Big Bit, who was anticipating a train wreck of family dysfunction in epic proportions. He didn't get it though, everyone was very well behaved.



Let me back up a little bit. I had mentioned a while back that there was something I wasn't too thrilled about and that my opinion might come out on Facebook. That thing was my father in law's pending nuptials. He doesn't read this blog, well, none of TH's family does and that's the way I like it for now. Not that I talk about them, until now anyway.


My mother in law died while we lived in hell, I mean Utah, right before I started this blog. I loved her. She was the BEST mother in law you could ask for (and trust me, the first one I had was the WORST one, so I know what I'm talking about). She was patient, supportive and a great mother and wife and a terrific grandmother. She had opinions, and could voice them with a little biting wit on occasion but usually she just kept her opinion to herself. Actually, she reminded me of my grandmother. I hope they've met by now, they'd get along famously.


So, anyhow, a few months later, TH's dad's best friend died. I loved him. He was a physician, witty, charming, and boy could he flirt! Not in a bad way, but in that fun way when you're talking with someone who really appreciates women and has a great sense of humor. His family was Old Idaho, like mine (only with a lot more money!), in fact his first cousin was the late Senator Frank Church. He was quite a bit older than TH's dad and his health hadn't been good for a while. I'm sure he's charming all the women in heaven now.


As often happens, the widow and widower got together and that, honestly, wouldn't be a problem - except I've never, ever liked her. I just didn't. She was okay, I could deal with her, but if it hadn't been for how much I liked her husband, I would have avoided her as much as possible. I knew TH wasn't thrilled, and he's known her since he was, oh, around 10 years old but I figured that was natural, while my reaction was odd. Surely, I thought, I was the only one that felt this way. Then I had some back and forth with my niece on Facebook wherein she indicated she, too, was not happy. In fact, she conveniently had a reason not to come to the wedding. Hm...



The ceremony took place. TH had to BUY a suit, the first one in his life, for this event. That smacked of fancy, and fancy isn't something that TH is, though he can pull it off, as you'll see. Pretty soon, the more that we heard, fancy started smacking of pretentious. Pretentious isn't something either one of us do well at ALL. It's the reason I will never rise higher in my career than my current level. And I'm okay with that. I'm also okay with the fact I successfully avoided the bachelorette party with lingerie and other things that I won't mention since my aunt reads this blog and she'd wash my mouth out with soap. It's kind of like going to a bachelor/ette party for your parents. Ew.



I did take the opportunity to get a family picture. Everybody looks good, I have to say Big Bit is getting to be a fine looking man. Wah.





My mom had been around TH's parents a lot, and has had a good relationship with his Dad, so she of course had been invited. She wasn't thrilled either, though I think she says she couldn't remember having met the fiancee until last weekend (did I mention the bride to be wore a GOLD JACKET AND TIGHT PANTS TO OUR PARTY? I HAVE WITNESSES). I guess she's heard me complain enough. Thanks Mom.

So, off we went to the ceremony and while I knew TH was distracted, I had no idea how bad he was until we came down the hill into Horsehoe Bend...which was NOT where the wedding was. It was in Emmett. He forgot how to get there. Please note, the physician I spoke of was TH's doctor, who lived in Emmett, and he used to go there anytime something was up that required a doctor visit, not to mention the fact they used him as informal tech support for their office. I've been there approximately twice since my freshman year of college when I had a friend who lived there. So I didn't really think about where we were going. Thankfully, there is a road from Horsehoe Bend to Emmett that isn't too long. We got to the site about 15 minutes before the wedding was to start instead of an hour, as planned. Oh well.

TH and his brother in law were best man and groomsman, respectively. We hadn't seen him and TH's sister in over two years. Things got very disjointed and weird once Mama Sue wasn't around. TH and his sister aren't close, mostly because they have very different interests in life but they do love each other. I was surprised at how happy I was to see them. That is a good sign. It was also a good sign when she pointed at the punch bowl and told me, "I have the non-alcoholic drinks" and burst out laughing (unusual for her) when I responded "Today, I HAVE to drink" as I headed for the wine. I think she would have been drinking, if she ever had done so. Hm. Maybe I'm not the only one, I thought.

As I said, TH can pull off fancy. He looked awesome. Thankfully Big Bit was around to tie his necktie for him, because I sure don't know how and obviously neither does he!

TH's grandfather and aunt had come out from Arkansas for the wedding. They are his mom's side of the family, so I was thinking this must mark a sign of approval from them. Based on the conversation TH had with his aunt yesterday - not so much. More proof I'm not alone. Unfortunately, we didn't get pictures of them at the wedding (Big Bit was distracted too) but they're coming over to the house before they head back so I will get some. They are just the nicest people ever.

I will not comment on the following photos. You, dear reader, certainly can though if you wish. I won't repeat what friend Allen said on Facebook. Let me just note it was faboo. Steve muttered something unprintable. Actually it was printable because he said "bleep" instead of the bad word, but I forget exactly what his utterance was.

TH's cousins and their spouses also came and though I've only met them a few times, it was nice to visit with them too, although sadly, they told us that TH's uncle (his Dad's older brother) is nearing the end of his battle with pancreatic cancer. Uncle Al is a great guy, his birthday is a few days before Little Bit's in December and he gave us great advice on how to deal with a birthday so close to Christmas when I was pregnant. He's also fun to golf with. They live in Arizona now, so we haven't seen him or Aunt Gloria for a while but I think of them often.

So, anyway, it all went down, it's over, and now we can go back to being ignored by the happy couple, which, as it turns out from all of the family feedback (we'd never asked before because we were sure we were the only ones who weren't happy) is pretty much what's happening to all of us. It's too damn bad for Grandpa, but there you are. His problem, not ours. Now, back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Life is Interesting

Life is interesting, as we all know. Sometimes in good ways, sometimes in not.



Good ways:

• We had a great housewarming party, lots of family and friends including Ben & Yvette who got the prize for farthest traveled - from Utah Valley, as a matter of fact. Good to see them and I'm so glad you guys liked Boise!


• There's only two weeks of school left. I'm looking forward to a summer that really IS a summer with Little Bit. He's always attended year-round schools and there is nothing harder than explaining to a little boy why it's 90 degrees out and sunny and he has to go to BED instead of playing in the sprinkler, or what-not.


• I've decided to adopt a new life-style. I refuse to call it a diet, so that way it stays on the good side of the list.


• Big Bit will be here Friday for the weekend. Yay!


• Last but certainly not least, Dad had surgery Tuesday to take care of the thing that was causing his staph infection. He is home and doing as well as he can be. Big prayers that the infection will GO and he can get all the way better. Finally.

Bad ways:

• There are still boxes in my garage and I can't park in it. Sigh.


• It's cloudy and kind of yucky today. I WANT SPRING OVER. NOW.


• While I desperately try to get organized at work, a wave of disorganization is working against me. That is all I can say.


• The Husband has to wear the following this weekend. Don't ask. It will all be explained later this weekend in another post, if only cryptically.

Why Am I So Tired?

I know why I'm so tired. I keep cramming everything in to a too-short time period then being exhausted from all the effort.


Case in point - I tried to take down the border of wallpaper in Little Bit's bathroom today. I know that a true fiend put up this wallpaper, because Little Bit's room was horrendous. However, I bravely attempted it, thinking, "Oh, it's just a border". A border put up by Satan himself, my friends. It's mostly down now but it really took up most of the day.


A day in which I needed to catch up on laundry, housework, try to get my profile set on the new Wii Fit (I know, just what the boys needed, more electronics but Mom went along with it because she got a Fit), go to a meeting at Little Bit's school (he is doing TREMENDOUSLY well here, it's a true blessing that we got the school we got), grocery shopping, dinner cooked and get ready for Scouts. Like I said, I know why I'm tired.


As well, we were out of town most of the weekend because TH, Big Bit and Little Bit had all never been to Yellowstone. I figured that the Bits were understandable but who has ever heard of a 45 year old man who lived all of his life 6 hours from Yellowstone who'd never been there? So we went, and it was beautiful. Lots of snow still, but we saw some animals - no bears, boo!







The boys enjoyed it, overall, even with being in the car for hours. I was impressed with how well they got along.

Pictures to come of more, but this is what I could get out for now - time to go have a glass of wine and a deep breath before dealing with thirteen 10-11 year olds at Scouts. Whew.

Friday Roundup

Let's see...what's going on around here....

• We have finally set a date for our housewarming - May 9. That is way too close if you look at what we still have to do, but I figure it will make us get it done. Invitations are coming soon (Yvette, here comes that chance to see Boise!)
• Our old employer, the "Mothership" as I used to call it, seems to be in real trouble if you look at their NON-earnings announcement this week. I'm hoping and praying they can pull out of the death spiral but I am really worried for all of our good friends that still depend on it for their livlihood, both here and in Utah. I saw the CEO the other night (while enjoying a great glass of wine and great jazz here) and it really took everything I had not to go scream at him for screwing up a really fine company and good employer for many thousands of people. Yes, for those of you in Idaho or around, you know exactly who I'm talking about. I think I'm going to sell the stock I bought for $45 while I can still get $3 out of it. Sigh.


• TH and I got to see Tom & Joe aka "The Fool Squad" last night at the Fettucine Forum which is something Boise State has periodically for free. The Rose Room, a huge room where they have wedding receptions, huge parties etc. was PACKED. The boys were their usual sparkling, funny selves with lots of Tom Luna (Superintendent of Education for Idaho who seems hell bent on screwing our schools as badly as possible) and Butch Otter (Governer of Idaho, ditto) jokes. I heart them.

• It looks like my Mom is moving to Boise! She has been here all week and found a place she likes, and has made an offer on it. She won't be moving for a couple of months, but unless something totally unravels, she will be near us very soon. It will be nice to have her closer, I hope she likes living here as much as we do. And, no, I didn't talk her into it. The Bits, and Little Bit in particular, are very excited about this development.
• Speaking of Little Bit, he won a pizza party for selling the most cookie dough and magazine subscriptions in his class for the PTO fundraiser. And he only sold $91 (well, I did, anyway at work). That is both cool for him and sad to note for his school. It's in the poorest area in Boise and money is quite dear to most of the parents and families. It makes me feel fortunate indeed.
• I am sick to death of clouds, rain, and snow. Come on spring, get your happy humps over here to Idaho!
• Jay Cutler got traded to the Chicago Bears. Ha. Haha. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Whew.
• Big Bit has a DATE to the PROM. *Sob**Sniff*
• My Grandmother, who hasn't been doing well, appears to be doing much better. I don't care if she's 91, she's still my Grandma and I still need a Grandma, so she'd better stick around!
• The Idaho Steelheads made the playoffs. Yay!

I think that is a pretty good roundup of developments. Have a good weekend!

Random Thoughts From The Weekend

• Life is a cycle, isn't it? We lost Charles, but cousin Kristi gained little Seth (on my late cousin Danny's birthday, no less). Welcome, Seth. If I can ever find my camera cable, I can post the pictures of your Mom I took when she was still pregnant with you.
• It's really going to suck saying goodbye to Charles Thursday. I hope TH gets through it okay. He got a sweet, heartbreaking e-mail from Charles' Mom this weekend. That poor woman. People should not have to bury their children.
• I really love being home. We went skiing Sunday at the local resort and saw five people we knew. Totally without planning to. That never happened to us before, by the way. Just reconfirms the correctness of the decision to come back.
• Big Bit was here for the weekend with a horrendous cold, which Little Bit promptly caught. And we had no kid's cold stuff in the house at 2 a.m. when he woke up with it. Argh.
• My Dad's infection is not clearing up, so they have to go in and take out the plate they put in his cheek so the infection will go away, then they can proceed. I am glad he's overall doing so well, if they can get this taken care of I think he's good to go. Damn staph infections. Hang in there, Dad.
• I CANNOT wait for spring.

What a Week!

Here's a smattering of what we experienced. It was a great trip, though one I personally probably didn't appreciate as much as I should. It's a genetic habit. I often find it hard to live in the moment, mostly because I'm so worried about what the men in my life are experiencing. I need to let it go. I know (insert Craig Ferguson's Scottish accent here). Keep telling me that, okay? P.S. The formatting on this stinks, but I'm getting tired, so it's going out there and I'll mess with it later.

First, we stumbled off the plane at 7:30 a.m. London time. We managed to make it to the hotel around 10 a.m. after stumbling our way through immigration (the line that went on forever) and onto the tube.

Thankfully, the hotel had our room ready, which was a surprise, so we went up, showered and generally tried to get ourselves oriented with it being daylight and all. Then, we went and found the first cool thing - the BEST CHINESE FOOD EVER. It's in London. All over the place, but particularly in Chinatown. Big Bit and I can vouch for the fact it's better than Chinatown in San Francisco. It's better than the Chinese food in Chinatown in Singapore, for heaven's sake. This was the first time we ate Chinese, but it wouldn't be the last. This was a pleasant surprise to me - I'd not made it to this end of London in my brief weekends there.




Then, it was on to see "Spamalot". TH and I saw this in Salt Lake City over a year ago. We could get cheap (read, seats that were in a scary steep balcony) for their Boxing Day show in London and we figured the boys would enjoy it - they love The Holy Grail and the Killer Rabbit. We all tried to nod off a bit, but we enjoyed the show and the theatre it was in was truly killer.

Oh, what else? We went to the British Museum (lots of pictures of mummies and so on, that I won't post here at this time), more Chinese Food. Oh and the Tower of London. Here's Big Bit taking a picture of more of the Tower. It was pretty cool.









Here's where the Crown Jewels are. We couldn't fit it all in the first day as the line was too long, so we went back another morning to see the jewels - got in right away. My father in law is right, they're cool but not worth standing in line for. We had bought an annual pass that got us into several palaces, going one time to the Tower all but paid for it, going twice more than paid for it, and we weren't done yet!







Next, Harrod's and Kensington Palace. Harrod's was AWFUL - I'd never seen it so crowded. All of London was crowded, actually. We left there fairly quickly and went to Kensington. Like many American females of my age group, I got up in the middle of the night to see Princess Diana get married and also to see her funeral. I felt very close to her, sometimes you marry a prince and he turns out to be a big fat frog and he has a mean mother who tries to help him take your kids away from you. Sorry, I digress.


The Palace itself is impressive, but the amount they really have for display is fairly small - the highlight, for me, being several of Diana's dresses on display, including the one she wore when she danced with John Travolta. She was very, very tall and very very thin.

The bits wore themselves out. More than once.


















We went on the Eye on New Year's Eve - our wedding anniversary. I don't like heights so I wasn't impressed but we all agreed it was something you should do at least once. It was kind of foggy that day, so most of the pictures weren't that great. (the one at the beginning of the post did, however).


Then - fireworks. We were still trying to figure out the camera, but TH got a couple of good ones, at least. They were magnificent, AND we didn't have to be in the crowd of drunks for four hours with no food, bathrooms or drinks! Yes!


























The last day we went out to Hampton Court Palace, which Cardinal Wolsey built and King Henry VIII stole. And it is very cool indeed.


Last, but not least for now, I leave you with a picture of the ice rink at Somerset House. In the movie Love Actually (my favorite ever!), this is a prominent shot at the beginning of the movie. And it was very cool when we walked in the courtyard and it looked like a scene from the movie. Just perfect.

Preview

Much more to come (once I find the memory chip TH apparently took out of the camera) but here's a preview kids - those of you who get Christmas cards from us or will this year will see this shot again - it's too good not to distribute.

Aren't they just cute?

Survived

Well, we survived the trip - more to come later, I wasn't able to post while there because my stupid work laptop has an issue with Google...it wouldn't let me sign in. We flew back into Salt Lake Friday night, and of course, what else was going on but a SNOWSTORM. (Have I ever mentioned I hate snow in Utah? I think so.) We stayed the night there rather than trying to get our jet lagged bodies home, which had the nice side result of getting to eat at Acme Burger, which is one of my favorite places in Salt Lake to eat.

Some random thoughts about the trip -

First, London is really beautiful and I think everyone enjoyed the trip. I have to say I've had enough testosterone surrounding me for a week that I need some serious time to myself. Which is why my plan for tonight is to send TH gaming with his friends, Big Bit to his room and Little Bit to the XBox so I can be ALONE.

Sixteen year old males take longer to get ready than sixteen year old females. I'm not kidding.

Europeans who travel to London on holiday are rude and pushy. Not Britons, mind you, Europeans. Americans, at least ones traveling to London, are polite, try to maintain personal space and say "excuse me" frequently. And I'm not just talking about us, mind you, I saw this repeatedly as there were a lot of marching bands from the U.S. in London for the New Year's Day parade. TH and Big Bit both commented we heard more "foreign" and U.S. accents all week than we did British accents.

The BBC has a lot of useless programming. Although I did see Judi Dench more than once, and that's always cool.

I love the magazines there. They are more vapid and superficial than People Magazine if you can believe it, thus they are my guilty pleasure while there.

The fireworks were AMAZING and thanks to a columnist in the U.K. Guardian who I read a few hours before we headed out, I found the best way to get to see the fireworks without having to wait four hours in the "viewing area" - go on the tube to the Vauxhall Bridge, watch them from a short distance, then go back to the tube and ride quietly to your destination while the crowds all fight each other by the Eye. Bless you, good man, bless you.

I highly recommend The Mitre pub on Craven Terrace. It's got nice staff, it's kid friendly and the food is very good and affordable.

Happy New Year everyone, hopefully pictures tomorrow!

I Hate Crowds

Okay, so I'm from Idaho. I'm my father's daughter. I hate crowds. I don't mind being in a big city, I can handle being in line at Disneyland, but I hate the crush of people, not being able to walk freely.

Keep in mind those facts as you view the video below. It's a long video, but if you get through about 3 minutes you will see the hideous crush of people on the Thames on New Year's Eve as the fireworks happen. I love fireworks, this will be my 14th wedding anniversary and we'll be in London, the Husband, the Bits and I, so I'm not complaining, per se. I'm not. But I may need to ward off a panic attack.

Thanks

Okay, so probably it's a typical blog topic either the day before or day of Thanksgiving, but I have much to be thankful for (thanks to a fellow blogger for reminding me of that) - the week has been super-stressful with trying to close on the house sale, waiting to see if TH gets his job, realizing how much money it cost us to move back (OUCH!!) and so on.

Yet, as I drove to work today I just had to smile. There's so many reasons why:

• I don't live in Utah anymore. Thank you, Dear Jesus (I am not being sarcasting there, please note).
• I live in Boise, with everything to offer only minutes away.
• TH, I and the Bits are healthy. The rest of the family's either healthy or taking steps to be so.
• We have our Margarita back (dog, not drink, though we like both).
• We're going to London in December.
• We get to see a vast majority of our family tomorrow.
• The Jets beat the Titans and lead their division.
• The Packers suck and Ted Thompson will be fired.
• Basketball season is coming and I can open a can of whoop ass on the BSU fans all over town (and in Washington).
• A whole lot of political stuff that just makes people crazy, so 'nuff said.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, and please remember what you are thankful for.

Some True Mavericks

I'm just sayin'....

I love these guys. I bought the CD this song is on many moons ago during a difficult time. It means a lot to this day.

Happy Friday! Flying to Utah tomorrow to retrieve my life (and, most importantly, The Husband). The Bits are at a) Big Bit's Dad's and b) Grandma's house in order of age. They are most important too and will be retrieved as well, in their various respects, and quite soon.

Sunday Update

Just a quick update to say it's Sunday afternoon and I'm sitting at Bardenay on the Basque Block having lunch and watching football.

And I couldn't be happier.

We drove up yesterday and managed to get stranded on Interstate 80 in the Pequops because of a freak snowstorm that took (apparently) the Nevada Department of Transportation and truckers alike by surprise. Three lanes of traffic at a total standstill while trucks chained up whereever the spirit moved them to stop...sigh. It took for flipping ever to get through there.

We managed to stop and see Dad and Pattie after we dropped off Little Bit at Grandma's. He's having a feeding tube put in his stomach this week to help him get enough food in to gain lots of weight. He may also have to have some chemo, rather unexpected, but more precautionary than necessary. He looks so much better, though he doesn't seem to believe that. He's even getting some hair on his head.

Then we had to get to Boise to pick up the keys to our new pad from friend Allen. (Bless you, Allen for picking them up). The pad is small, but is clean and other than a few random irritating things about rentals (the deadbolt on the front locks with a key from the INSIDE as well as outside...the garage door won't open), and the fact there's a Ron Paul supporter about two houses down (just kidding) I think it will be fine. The Bits are going to be devastated about the size of their bedrooms, but what can you do?

The Husband's flying back to fair SLC tonight and I will go down next Saturday to help pack and move (hopefully) most of our stuff. Anyone want to help?

Yeah...that's what I thought. Happy Sunday and good luck to your teams (except for the Bears, of course).