Sweet Dreams

The other day, Gary asked me if I could remember the name of a guy that he was friends with in high school and that I knew from my camp counselor days. At the time, I could not think of his name.

This morning, I woke up at 6:00am from a dream that unlocked his name and at least 6 others. I got up out of bed, stumbled over to where Gary was standing, mumbled the guy’s name and went back to bed. (I am not a morning person, so stumbling and mumbling is a true depiction of my morning)

These other names were of people I knew from my pre-teen and teen years; I had completely forgotten about them. These were friends I had outside of school, so I would not have seen them at a reunion.

Well, of course, the first thing I did was search for them on Facebook; to no avail. None of those people use Facebook; go figure.

Anyway, the interesting part of this story, to me, is that in the middle of my sleep a whole chunk of my memory (from 25+ years ago) was restored. I didn’t even know it was missing. I had no reason to think about it…until Gary brought up our friend Pete. It is incredible how our minds continue to work through issues when we aren’t even aware of it.

This gives me hope that all of lifes little issues will resolve themselves…with a good nights sleep.

Sweet Dreams!

The Princess and the Pea

Have you heard the fairy tale, by Hans Christian Anderson, The Princess and the Pea?

The tale goes like this: A prince would like to find a "real" princess to marry. He searches the kindgdom far and wide, but can not find his princess. One dark and stormy night a girl comes to the castle proclaiming she is a princess, but because she is such a mess from the wind and rain the King and Queen don't believe she is an actual princess. The Queen decides to put her to the test. She piles up 20 mattress and 20 down beds and puts one little pea under the bottom mattress; without the girl knowing. In the morning, when she awakes, the Queen asks the girl how she slept. The girl says horribly I was up all night, tossing and turning, my body is bruised from sleeping on something hard under my mattresses. The King and Queen believe she is a true princess, because know one but a princess could be SO SENSITIVE. The prince has found his bride.

That princess is ME. I am serious, you can stop laughing anytime now.

I am SO SENSITIVE to the slightest barometric pressure change I can tell you when it is about to happen. Most of my friends already know my keen ability to predict rainfall, within a couple of days.

Last night after the Angels game (hooray for the Angels win) I came home with an awful headache, the kind I get when the weather is changing or it is going to rain. I told my mom and she said there are hurricanes off the coast of Mexico. I thought, that's probably not it, but didn't rule out the possibility. I went on with my day.

At 1:00pm my head starting hurting the way it had last night, so the first thing I did, after popping a couple of Advil, was check the barometer. Sure enough, the barometeric pressure had dropped so low and the humidity had climbed so high that it actually showed rainfall. Obviously, it wasn't raining in the house, but the humidity is so high that the digital thermometer is confused.

I guess the moral of my story is two-fold: Always listen to your mother and always remember who you are.

If you are ever in need of a princess....you know who to call!

Boys will be Boys will be Dads Someday

My sister and her family are in town and we have spent the weekend going to the movies, swimming in the jacuzzi and BBQing.

My 2 year old nephew fell head first into the jacuzzi with three adults standing near by. No splash, no cry- just shear panic and guilt, after the fact.

My 4 year old nephew kicked the pants off dueling swordsman on the Wii. When we left for the evening, he stood at the window and watched us drive away.

My 9 year old, after dinner and after beating everyone, even the two year old, at dodgeball said, "Hey, can I get some ice cream, or what???"

My 13 year old threw out the word, triskaidekaphobia (I had to look up the spelling), in conversation. How long had he been storing that piece of trivia in his head??? Your guess is as good as mine. The word means fear of the number 13.

My brother-in-law was banned from playing dodgeball, by my 9 year old, because he threw the ball so hard it hurt when it hit.

My husband was actually the instigator that got my brother-in-law playing dodgeball in the first place. The two of them were throwing the ball so hard at each other the rest of us feared for our lives.

My Dad took no prisoners in the jacuzzi. The boys were squirting him with their water guns...he took out the hose and hosed them down.

Past, Present, Future....Grandpas and Dads were once little boys and they will always have a bit of that little boy inside them.

I love you Dad for everything you do for me and my boys; for setting an example for my boys to follow.

I love you Gary for giving our boys the foundation to become the best that they can be. Our boys look up to you and because of this, they will make excellent Dads to their kids.

I love you Doug for giving my nephews a father who loves and adores them.

Happy Fathers Day!!!!

Scared of Bears

A few months ago my sister convinced me that a Yosemite camping trip would be an awesome experience. She got me so excited I woke up at 6:00am on the designated reservation day just to reserve a site at the Upper Pines campground; months in advance. It is very hard to get a spot at this campground and because of my fantastic organizational skills and early morning wake-up call to my sister we got two sites right next to each other. YES!

We were going to hike and bike, see the falls and majestic beauty of the land. Ahhhhhhh, so peaceful and calming to be one with nature. Until the middle of the night you hear BAM BAM BAM; the clanging of pots and pans to scare away the bears!!!!

That's right, you heard me...apparently, there is a HUGE bear problem in Yosemite. I had seen the shows on the travel channel warning travelers to be cautious and not leave out food(bear bait). That didn't seem to be a problem; I could put our food in the bear locker. But, it's not just food; fragrant soap, detergent, cooking utensils, dirty clothes...anything that has a scent and could attract a bear. Now we are talking a little more work.

I began having visions of my 2 year old nephew stashed away in the bear locker at night. Second thoughts started creeping in....


Someone from my office just came back from Yosemite and told me he could hear the bears breathing outside of his tent at night. OK, I have heard ENOUGH! I definitely can not see myself sleeping in a tent surrounded by bears. I could barely sleep at my last campout and we only had squirrels surrounding us.

I called my sister and explained the bear phobia and we agreed to find a new location for our camping adventure. We have decided on Lake San Antonio...no bears, just lots of fun in the sun and time on the lake.

Ahhhhhh, peace and calm, once again.

Camping People

There are camping people, like my husband, and then there are non-campers, like me.

My husband grew up camping, backpacking in the Sierras, rockclimbing at Joshua Tree, and water skiing at every lake within a weekends driving distance. I grew up staying at the Hilton or Hyatt.

So, how does a non-camper become a camper? This is the issue I am dealing with at the moment. I thought it would be fun to get a group of friends together to go camping. Let the kids play, the adults could bond...this sounds great, right? It is, but there is one problem...I DON'T KNOW HOW TO CAMP!

So, this is what I have done to prepare for our camping trip: I handpainted really cute t-shirts for the kids to wear (they glow in the dark and will look so cute in pictures), bought glowsticks(so we don't lose anyone after dark + they are fun), washed all the sleeping bags, and I have made a lot of lists!

After talking with my friends that are going, I realize I may be ill prepared.

This is what my friends have done to get ready: loaded their truck bed with firewood, made sure their gunrack was good and secure(I'm assuming the guns will be used to scare away the bears), made pancake batter and froze it(I don't quite understand this yet, but somehow it will be used for a pancake breakfast, and filled up propane tanks for barbequing.

OK, I get it...I am packing as if we are going to a resort and all the amenities will magically appear. I really hope there is a fully stocked mini-bar at our campsite...WISH ME LUCK!

Crossing the Line

I thought since my husband just had a BIG birthday I should write a little something to commemorate the day.

People always ask me, "How do you put up with this guy"?!? We all know Gary to be a jokester, a prankster, a guy who crosses over the line more times than I care to count. What's even funnier than Gary crossing over the line is when he gets someone else to take the leap with him; John Toohey you know what I am talking about. I love that he makes people laugh, especially ME!

I put up with this guy because:

Gary never fills up his drink without asking if anyone else would like a drink. He ends every phone call, to me, with I love you. When I say I am going to change(my clothes) he says,"Don't change, always stay the same". He calls me on his way home from work and asks if he can get me anything, and isn't mad if the answer is YES. On the weekends, Gary makes breakfast for the boys and has it waiting for them when they wake up. When we have dinner with family he always gets up and clears the table. He finds humor in everything; movies are just funnier when you watch them with Gary. I love that he always enters a room with a smile.

Most importantly: I put up with this guy because he puts up with ME!

I love you Gary! Happy 40th Birthday!

Lists

People who KNOW me understand that I need order in my life. Call it “type A”, if you must, but, I have made some very important lists in my lifetime.

1. Party lists – I can not think of one party that I didn’t make multiple lists for; this category sometimes warrants sub-lists. I’m sure you get the idea, so many things to do, so little time.

2. Kid care lists – these are probably the most important lists! How else would my parents know that my boys require food and water during the day???

3. Gary to do lists – This might out rank the Kid care lists for most important! I know for a fact that Gary would not know what to do around the house if I didn’t write it on a piece of paper. Go ahead, ask him.

4. 25 random facts about me list – Don’t tell me you already knew I hold my stomach when driving over train tracks.

5. Doctor lists – These are the lists of random diseases that I ask my Doctor about when I have any similar symptoms; I couldn’t possibly have the COMMON cold.

6. Work lists – Don’t get me started….If I don’t keep a list the business would surely fall to pieces.

7. Travel lists – someone needs to keep track of where we are going and what we have done.

8. Famous people I am allowed to sleep with if given the opportunity – this list has been around since my teenage years; there have been many re-writes.

9. Present lists – Who gets what from whom; keeps our December running smoothly.

10. My shit list – The most famous list of all.

Happy Listing!

Sound Advice

I like to think that my life experiences are worth something. In the moment, they are not life changing, but in retrospect they are glimpses of genius.

I called my sister tonight and she recounted her day, in which my 4 year old nephew had been vomitting for most of it. Being 4 he did not always recognize the feeling of vomit rising from his belly; she spent a lot of time on her hands and knees scrubbing the floors.

This is where my life experiences mean something...I learned early on that cleaning chunks off shag carpet really sucks. Now, when one of my boys has the stomach flu, I blow up the air mattress, toss on a sleeping bag and set them up right outside the bathroom door. Their orders: Crawl INTO the bathroom to hurl. Problem solved.

Guess where my nephew is sleeping tonight...In his "special" fort bed right outside the bathroom door. I love you Natey, get well soon.