Still Nothing.....

It's been almost a month since my last blog. There isn't really anything interesting going on in my life but I'll do a quick update, just so i don't forget to keep blogging away....

1. Bill finally left for Oregon on the 16th of June. He left a BUNCH of his stuff and the house is still in complete disarray! My plan of getting it all cleaned up seems to have been put on the back burner in favor of doing absolutely nothing.

2. Nicole finished out her Freshman year of high school and her grades were great! She is now going to a voluntary summer school program for 4 weeks designed to prep the incoming Sophomores for AP World History next year. The worst part about this is that the class is being held at the University and it's a pain in the butt to get her there and back for the 9:00 - 2:00 class every day. Seems like all the stay at home Moms got carpools together and we couldn't find a ride buddy for Nicole. So she comes to work with me at 7:30, we leave work at 8:30 to take her to class and then I wait to take my lunch break until 2:00 so I can pick her up, take her home, and get back to work by 3:00. It's killing me in gas costs! Luckily we only have 4 days left after today.

3. Nicole is leaving on the 20th to go to Disney world for 10 days! She's going with her BFF and her family and I know she's going to have LOADS of fun!

4. My cousin Nick and his girlfriend, who were living in Portland, OR, are staying with us until the middle or end of August. They also brought their chihuahua. They're also vegan. Yeah....VEGAN! No meat, dairy, eggs not even HONEY! Haven't they seen The Bee Movie?? Do you know what happens when the bees stop making honey? The health of the whole world is at stake here! Anyway....they cook every night and have made some really awesome vegan meals. I can't complain about any of the cooking, it's fabulous! The only problems...I personally am an omnivore, as it turns out and my daughter has decided that she is Vegan. I'm pushing extra vitamins and calcium on her like a crack dealer. I'm also trying to convince her that she should switch to vegetarian when Nick and Rose leave because I NEED MEAT AND CHEESE! The chihuahua and my pit bull do add hours of free entertainment for us, however. That tiny dog walked into our house, laid down the law and the pit bull has obeyed her ever since. It's quite comical. My black lab could really care less about either of the other dogs and just wants to be left alone.

5. I cut off almost all of my hair, about 10 inches. I donated the bulk of it to Locks of Love I figured, since I'm quickly closing in on 40 years old, I just looked silly with such long hair. I really like it!

6. In 10 days I'm going to Vegas and I can't wait to have a 4 day weekend of fun with my friends! I'm so ready to have a vacation!! I've been working my butt off at work to get everything caught up by then.

I think that's all the goods on us for now.

Getting Closer

The UHaul has been picked up and moved into the driveway. I think that means my husband is getting closer to his departure date, but it's hard to tell with him. It doesn't seem like he's packed near enough stuff, yet the house is starting to look empty. I don't ask when he plans to leave because he always accuses me of nagging when I do. And I'm am the least naggy spouse EVER!

I've put off cleaning lately because cleaning while someone is moving just doesn't work. This weekend I plan to completely clean the house! Reorganize, re-arrange, dust, vacuum.....Just the thought of a completely clean house makes me giddy!

Nicole will be going to stay with her Dad this weekend, we bought his Father's Day gifts yesterday. So I could, conceivably, have the whole weekend completely alone! I can't wait to bask in the silence. Now if I can just stay awake!

The Long Haul

My husband is officially retired. After 30 years in public education, both as a teacher and a school counselor, he has finished his career. I can't even begin to imagine the number of children, whose lives he touched. And now, at the relatively young age of 56 he gets to begin his life again.

Last year around this time we bought a house on the Oregon Coast. It's such a beautiful pieces of property. Twelve acres of forest and grass and you can hear the ocean from the deck, even if we can't actually see it from there. It's so quiet, magnificent and peaceful. It's cool in the summer and not too cold in the winter. We bought this house so that my husband could move there when he retired. We made this plan years ago. Knowing he would retire before my daughter would graduate from high school, we knew that he would go alone, until Nicole was ready to go to college.

So, here we are....My husband is moving to Oregon soon. He was planning to leave on Monday, but he has never been on time in his life. When he said the 7th of June my daughter and I started making bets....I said the 10th, Nicole said the 14th. Suffice it to say that he hasn't even started packing yet, so the 7th is clearly not the day. Nicole may have even been giving the benefit of the doubt when she gave him an entire week more than he had planned.

I wonder what the house will look like with of all his things gone. We have lived in our house for 8 years and a family can accumulate a lot of stuff in 8 years that really isn't necessary. Since Nicole and I will be moving to a smaller house soon, we really will have to downsize. I'm actually looking forward to the major purge of stuff. It's times like this that I find myself wishing I were Bewitched, and I could just wiggle my nose and it would all be done. Packing and moving is so stressful and having to do it alone is probably going to be even worse.

So we start the long haul....

A Little Girl Time

I love my husband and my dogs and I really enjoy a nice quiet weekend at home with my family…..but every once in awhile I love to spend time with my girlfriends.

This weekend my daughter and I are headed to Fresno for a birthday party for one of my great friends. I haven’t seen her since her bachelorette party (I didn’t make it to the wedding) and I can’t wait to spend some time pool side with her and her family. There’s something so special about spending time with old friends.

In July I’ll be heading to Las Vegas with my friend Kat, who has been my best friend since we were in kindergarten together. We’re having a gathering of a bunch of people from our high school class and it should be a ton of fun! When Kat and I get together we have SO MUCH FUN! It often requires frequent trips to the bathroom to make sure we don’t wet ourselves from laughing so hard. There is no substitute for a friend like Kat. I’m blessed to have her!

Dinner and Shopping

I don't really mind making dinner. It isn't the "making" part that I have trouble with. I'm a pretty good cook and I have come up with some pretty tasty dinners just throwing together a bunch of stuff that seems like it would taste good together. The part I don't like is deciding. I seem to have a complete mental block when it comes to deciding what to make for dinner. I have been to the grocery store every day this week because I just get some overwhelmed with the idea of what to make for dinner. It's all I can do to decide what to have that night, let alone the next night.

Years ago, when I was younger and married to a man who was much easier to feed I would make an entire weeks menu, make my grocery list, shop on Saturday and be set for a week. Those days are LONG over!

Here's part of the problem...My husband doesn't really like carbs. I KNOW!? WHAT?? I could live on bread and pasta. So, he doesn't like rice, pasta, potatoes...everything good. He also doesn't like white meat chicken or turkey. My daughter has recently started on a health kick. She exercises every day and insists on eating whole grains, white meat, etc. So now what?? I seriously feel like buying a bag of wheat bagels, a bag of white bagels a jar of Skippy and a jar of Natural peanut butter and telling them to go for it. But alas...I must make healthy, nutritious meals that we can all sit down and enjoy together.

As I was writing this post my daughter text messaged me (I'm at work and she is at home) "Are you going to the store?" I answer "yes", she knows I am because she knows we have nothing for dinner at the house. She begs to go with me and says she will even wait outside for me so I don't have to get out of the car. Maybe she'll decide what to have for dinner. Probably not. Last night when I was in the store I text her and said "I can't make a decision about dinner!" and she text back "don't ask me!" Ahhh...harmony. I made spinach ravioli, salad and cauliflower. But in roughly 30 minutes I'm going to be standing in the grocery store again with the same dread.

The End of Furlough Friday

Almost a year ago my company started mandated furlough days. We had to take 16 hours off each calendar month but we were allowed to chose how we wanted to take that time. I chose to take 4 hours each Friday. So, for the last year I have only had to work until noon on Friday. In the beginning it was tough to get used to the cut in pay but the joy of having that 4 hours off soon over shadowed the pain of the loss of funds. Normally my daughter gets a ride home from school from another Mom who doesn't work outside the home. What a saving grace that Mom has been for us! If you're a SAHM and you give rides to a child who's Mom works, you have no idea how much she appreciates you! But on Friday, since I'm off at noon, I get to pick Nicole up and we do something fun like watch a show together or go to Starbucks and get yummy drinks. Last Friday however, we were informed that business is picking up and the furloughs have come to an end. There was a big cheer when the announcement was made. I didn't feel like cheering. I'm going to miss that free time and the time I have been spending with my daughter. But I'm glad that business is picking up. That means my job is a little more secure.

In updated news.....I went to the dentist last Thursday and GREAT NEWS! They thought I was really really special and I guess they're going to make me a Queen or something! I go back in 2 weeks for my crown. I guess that six month wait between when they said I needed to have the filling replaced and when I went again this time made a filling replacement no longer an option. Shoot!

I'm Lazy!

There I said it! I think I am the laziest person I know. I would rather sleep all weekend then do just about anything else. I LOVE TO SLEEP. I always feel bad on Sunday night that I slept away the weekend, but at the time it feels so wonderful. I should clean more, exercise a little, do fun things with my husband and my daughter, take the dogs to the dog park.....But I sleep. I'm also very overweight. The two are most probably connected, but I chose to ignore the obvious. So, I have landed myself in a catch-22. Being overweight is exhausting. Try going down to the store and picking enough bags of flour to equal 60 pounds, strap it on your body for a day and see how tired you are at the end of the day. Now, try exercising with said flour strapped to your body. Yeah...that's my life. I don't know exactly how I let it get so out of control. Well....I DO know how. I LOVE carbs! LOVE LOVE LOVE carbs. I could live on pasta and bread for the rest of my life and be perfectly content, and fat. At some point I really need to think about changing the cycle. But it's Thursday and I have my eye on a sleep filled weekend. I'll think about exercising again another day.