World Phenomenons

Of all the world phenomenons out there, high school is the most interesting. It has been almost ten years since I graduated from high school and only few memories intice a feeling of longing to go back. Those few; however, don't compare to the massive millions of other memories that make me feel naseous at the thought of being forced to go through the awkwardness, pressure and boredom of high school. Why then do so many people hang on to those few, and seemingly insignificant, in the grand scheme of life, moments that happened in high school. Is it the played up idea of "firsts," because I could so live without those. Is it the played up idea of "freedom," because I can tell you, there was none. Is it the played up idea of no responsibilities, because I can certainly tell you there were too many. Of course, these are just my experiences. Most of the time I think back on high school and just get embarrassed. With so much drama at home and chaos in my schedule and finding the pressure of success intolerable and the "need" for that perfect grade insignificant, (not to mention the tests, the papers, the quizzes, the participation, blah, blah, blah), I would just rather go back and erase those three years or go back and re-do them to my satisfaction - without the embarrassing moments, the boyfriends, the vulnerabilities, the this, the that and the other.

For others that were graced with the freedom, the no responsibilities and the favorable firsts, I can see a desire to hang on to the past. However, even for those so fortunate, there is so much more that are better firsts and so many other responsibilities or lack there of to relish in. There are so many other facades of freedom that rank higher than high school "freedom." So what is it really that keeps us going back to high school and wishing or wanting or pondering? It can't be the cafeteria food! ICK. It can't be the smell of the finally-opened-from-a-long-night-of-being-locked-up, dusty gym. Nasty!

Why am I bringing this up? Because I logged onto my Facebook account, one which I hardly remember is there, and find someone I don't know asking to be my virtual "friend." I don't remember this person and I wonder if she really remembers me. I don't mind meeting again the people I once knew way back when. Instead, it was more of a question of why do people search after those acquaintances that for a lot of people they really aren't "friends" or were not "friends" back when and have no intention of being "friends" once you click "add." One theory I hear of is the idea of popularity - "See, I have you as a friend so you must think I'm cool." Or is that validation? Another theory I hear of is, "we're all friends, that was all in the past," must be the, "they knew I was joking" theory. For those friends I have added, I actually have a history with. They were friends. They were people I conversed with on a daily basis, looked up to, hung out with, shared neat experiences with or shared horrible experiences with which we don't bring up. :) For people who have added me, they add me and then never again is there a line of communication, regardless of any feeble attempts. (See above for theories as to why).

Anyway, I digress. So for this person who wanted to add me. I hadn't heard of her before. She was a year younger than me. Married. No maiden name listed, so I didn't know who she was from Adam. So, I took a stroll through my yearbook. Curiousity really got the best of me. Man, was that a long stroll. As I was flipping through the pages, memories came back and the aforementioned longing and feelings of going back to relive those memories started creeping in. I don't mind, but still, wonder why. Why not wish for elementary again? Middle school anyone? Well, I find it interesting. Other world phenomena seem to have scientific explanations. What about this one?

Thank Heaven for small favors

Of all the random things that can happen, they will and to my husband. During his racquetball class, he, like all other students put their belongings outside the ball court; however, of all the students, just my lucky husband was the one to have his rolled up clothing STOLEN. Who in all that is glorious, would steal used, stinky-man clothing? I don't care that it was actually stolen, in the sense that we don't have it anymore, just the annoying fact that it was stolen. The most annoying part was the underwear, why? Omi, why? The only comfort, if you could call it that, to gain any amount of sense of a senseless and random act was that among his clothing was his wallet. The theifers must have thought - hmm, clothes ... sports ... wallet in clothes ... money. Lucky for us, since my husband loses his wallet and keys every couple months, he no longer carries cash, cards or other important, financial-related documents. In addition to that, I have to assume that was our saving grace!

The day of, my husband called all those that could or might have something to do with the process: police, custodial, deans, locksmiths, etc. That evening when he got off work, we scowered the building and the surrounding buildings, the trash, the lockers, the halls, the stairwells - no such luck; nothing was found or recovered. Two days later - a pleasant surprise. The belongings were recovered by custodial who found them under a stairwell, tucked away with everything in its place. Now, we don't have to worry about running all over town to replace driver's licenses, ID cards, bus passes, etc.

Through all of that, the worst-case scenarios going through my thoughts, I wonder, do I just not have any faith or hope? Or is it normal? Something I must work on I suppose!

Ah, the Simple but CRAZY life

Spending a week at Grandma and Grandpa's, Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's really did us in. We have spent the last two weeks getting our baby girl back on a schedule. It hasn't helped AT ALL that the day we flew back in Grandma (a different one than above) flew in and we hosted her for a week. This means, lots of driving to do various errands for Grandma on top of back-to-life-from-vacation errands for our family and me keeping the appointments I already made (one for each day) with professionals in the field I am trying to get into, not to mention the horrible weather we came back to - drizzly and rainy/snowy all week and sooo cold. The week after (this week - thank heaven it's over) we have had nothing but more errands by way of doctor appointments to do. Lucky to report - everyone is in good health, growing and strong.


Apparently, babies are now able to eat peanut butter, eggs, honey and fish a lot earlier than I remeber - 9 mos to a year! Now our girl has a lot of catching up to do. My son, funny enough, is in the fifth percentile for height and weight - yup, all, he is still short and skinny! I promise he eats - like a horse, too!!! He's on a jelly belly kick, we limit his in take, otherwise he'd eat the whole five pounds in the same day. My husband's knee still hurts - yay for knee braces and my thyroid is all jacked up - I'm so pissed I have to take meds now! Lame!! Other than that, all doc appts are done and no more for another year! Made the week crazy, but so worth it.

On top of doc appts, library visits, swimming pool play and playdates this week, I squeezed in an interview for a big girl job. Today I was offered the position. We are so happy and excited. It will be such a great addition to our family. Especially with my degrees - I can actually earn the money I can (to start) to pay off those pesky student loans. A big girl job, to boot! So excited. It is perfect, too because of pay and hours. Can't wait to start. I have come to the realization, some moms are meant to be moms. I've always known that and have respected those mothers who devote their lives to mommihood. I; however, am not one of them. I love working for Uncle Sam, I love socializing with other adults, I love to play with my kids, have routines and watch my kids grow, but I also love to feel like I'm helping others and working for something - part of a different bigger picture.

With that said, the end of this post will include the last of the pics from our trip:

Another vaca come and gone

We finally made it home. The last post was Wednesday - horses, caverns, all that jazz. Thursday we were going to go back to D.C., but poor hubby got ill. We stayed in and had a nice, relaxing day. Friday we had a brilliant day in my old hometown catching up with friends. It was great to finally show Darin where I came from, my stories now have pictures and my friends' names now have faces! It was finally the moment I got to take him through my memory lane and he says he really enjoyed it! He's so supportive! Haha. Saturday we went to Thomas Jefferson's house (pics to follow). My mother, sister-in-law, niece and nephew came up and stayed with us at the condo - since we have so much room, why not share! :D It was so nice to see my sister-in-law again. We talk online all the time, but only see each other ever few years! They had a good time around the condo since Thomas Jefferson's house wasn't as child friendly in the early Spring as we had hoped. We still got to spend the morning and evening with them so it was worth it for us. I just hope it was worth it for them! Sunday came. We began our travels. All I will say is I'm so grateful for small blessings! We were bumped flights for an earlier one - YAY and given first class - OMI - and delayed for two hours in Atlanta, GA and stood up for a ride home!! ARGH. All in all, it ended like all good things must and I got to see my babies again. I so missed them. My son enjoyed the book, hat and new clothes we got for him and my daughter doesn't know the difference to enjoy her new clothes and book. Now the vacation is over. I'm so glad to be home. Next vacation - oh, please not yet!!

Beautiful Day

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. No clouds, no fog, just warm sunny weather. Perfect for what we had planned. We have no kids so we got to sleep in until 1130am!! Went horseback riding. That was fun. It's been years since I was on a horse. We used to have horses when we lived in TX, so I miss them. Now my butt is bruised! It's true. So sad!! :( I'm not as young and resilient as I used to be, just out of shape - again!!

Afterwards, we had lunch and began our trip to the local caverns. They were amazing. Stalagmites and all that cool stuff is so amazing, how it forms, how the minerals lay, how old they all are. So cool.

Next, of course we had to swim (again) in our jacuzzi thing, got some Chick-fil-a, because it seems only out here do they actually have the "secret sauce" I'm used to!

The rest of the day we just chilled and enjoyed the quite and the cable TV - amazing shows nowaday. However much fun we are having, I so miss my kids. However much I miss them, though, they are having so much fun, too!! Apparently, my daughter is absolutely loving Grandma and Grandpa's house. She is letting Grandpa rock her for hours, still trying to walk, taking advantage of them by keeping their attention on her (hehehe) and posing for lots of pictures. My son got to go AZ with his bio-dad and went jet skiing, boating and had a blast. Now he is traveling with Dad all over to libraries and enjoying the time he has with his Dad who took vacation to be with his son!

Foggy-Bottom

It's true, I am infatuated with the East coast. The trees, though bare, are beautiful, the diversity, the people who are so friendly everywhere, the culture, the cities - everything - LOVE IT. This is truly where I want to end up.

So yesterday, we toured around the mountain where we are staying. Everything was nestled within a cloud. It was still misty, but it was all beautiful. We drove to D.C. in the afternoon and there it was overcast and cold, but we enjoyed it so much. We spent some time at the D.C. temple figuring out when we could do a session. Ugh, it was amazing. In D.C., we got to see the outdoor monuments - Einstein Memorial, Korean Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Mem, Lincoln Mem, George Washington Mem, White House. Fascintating, all of it.

We used the subway system to avoid D.C. traffic. It was great. We got off at our stop at Foggy-bottom (don't you just love that name) and immediately got lost. The stop is in the middle of George Masen University which is also dead center in D.C. surrounded by businesses and many people going to and from - a place I would definately not want to go to school. We walked around the block a bit to figure out where we were, but I accidentally gave my good map to someone else who was lost in the subway system. The map we had sucked so we had no clue where we were. We asked a couple guys where we were and, go figure, they said, "We don't speak English." I asked, "Quelle langue?" They sounded French; they answered they spoke French so I told them I can speak it a little and we needed directions, if they could help. They did and pointed us in the direction of the Kennedy Center - definately the wrong direction. I thought it was a monument and once we started treking, we realized, wait - that's not what we thought it was. So, while they did help, there was obviously confusion. So, we walked and we walked and we walked. It was great. That's the best part of traveling with my hubby. Finally, we got to the National Mall and began our tour.

It was late when we got home, so a quick swim in our jacuzzi tub and we were dead asleep! So excited. Today - horse back riding!! YIPPEE.

Our Vaca

Here we are - YAY - in Virginia. After an incredible trip of bus, planes, lay-overs, delays, cars and fog, we finally made it to our in-the-middle-of-no-where resort. It is amazing. Our timeshare is amazing. Anyone want to be referred? Let me know, I've got the hook up for you! We signed up and got amazing things for it and still love it. Anyway, tangent over - our condo is well over 1,000 square feet with a complete kitchen, a fireplace, balcony, two bedrooms, two full bathrooms, and get this - a huge (I swear it is more than a two person size) jetted spa/tub! So cool!

So last night, our first night, we checked-in, oogled and googled over our condo, unpacked, showered and CRASHED. We were so tired!! Today, we picked up our rental car, went grocery shopping to stock our fridge for a week's worth of food, napped, SWAM in our huge jacuzzi spa/thing, hung out, went for a walk - LOVING the drizzly rain surrounded by bare trees and rolling hills, scouted out for this weeks adventures and ate a massive supreme pizza. Now, as any good vacationer does, we are chilling in front of our fireplace on the couch computer-ing!! Haha. Lame, but we have much to look forward to and today is our chill day.