Moving...

So here is the quickie...

I am (finally) moving... All decided quick and simple... (Though with moving is anything ever really simple?) And I am off for the first drive out with Gracie (my SUV) all loaded down...

There is no internet... Grrr... (Will have to fix that right away...) So you all will be left hanging for a bit with all the wonderful details... (And they are truly wonderful...)

My girlfriends are meeting me up there to sew while I get the place ready for the "big" move in a couple of weeks... (Is it really that soon? And is this really happening right before Burning man? Am I really that nuts? Yeah... 'fraid so...)

Wish me luck...
I'm off...
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

DMV again...

DMV... Again...

I think this time they might actually get my name right... How do I know? What brings me that "feeling"?

I had to take another photo...

Without make up or hair done wearing a top that looks like it might just be pajamas...

So...

It stands to reason that this time, I might just have a valid license with the right name on it... At this point, if the photo even sort of resembles what I look like standing in line to get through the security at the airport, I will be happy...

I just want this over so that I can take on the joys of applying for a passport...

Weee... Fun...

DMV again...

DMV... Again...

I think this time they might actually get my name right... How do I know? What brings me that "feeling"?

I had to take another photo...

Without make up or hair done wearing a top that looks like it might just be pajamas...

So...

It stands to reason that this time, I might just have a valid license with the right name on it... At this point, if the photo even sort of resembles what I look like standing in line to get through the security at the airport, I will be happy...

I just want this over so that I can take on the joys of applying for a passport...

Weee... Fun...

The jury is in...

The Boyfriend's Mother does NOT like me... And for reasons that I was not expecting at all...

I am hurt. and angry. (But I know that in a few days, that will pass...) More than anything, I am upset... (You know that pit of the stomach kind of twisting pain that eats at you? Yeah... It's that...)

And more than all of that, I feel badly for the Boyfriend...

Which is why this is a very different Blog than I originally wrote... Full of hurt and anger and questions... But in the end, it would only hurt the Boyfriend... And that is the last thing that I want to do... So I hit the delete button until all of the words were gone, and started again...

What I have is this...

I am who I am...
I had, and still have, the best of intentions...
I tried, but I remained true to myself... No matter what...
I feel badly about how it turned out... But I really gave it my all...
I am hurting and upset...
But I WILL get over it... And past it...
And then I will try again...
This is important...
I really, really love this man...
And I want him to be happy... Because that makes me happy...
And THAT is important...

Meeting the Parents...

In a matter of hours... I am meeting the parents... And I am wondering what I have gotten myself into...

I fly up for five days... To be with the Boyfriend and his parents...
I have packed and re-packed my suitcase... Three times...
I have grazed my way through all the cupboards and contents of the refrigerator...
I have groomed and preened to the best of my ability...
I am brushed up on conversational topics...
I am trying not to bite my nails...
My stomach is doing acrobatic maneuvers worthy of a Lucent Dossier performance piece...
I am as ready as I'll ever be...

And yet...

I wonder if anyone is ever thinking anything other than: "What on earth have I gotten myself into?" when they happily agree to MEET THE PARENTS...

Meeting the Parents...

So I am off... TOO MEET THE PARENTS... The Parents of the Boyfriend... For the first time...

And I am officially nuts...

(Between missing the wee wiggle worm and re-packing my suitcase three times to make sure I have the "right" clothes for any possible parental situation, I am indeed nuts...)

As my closest friends and family keep telling me... I will do fine... (They also say that I am wonderful and irresistible and that it will be impossible for them to feel anything but love for me... I sooo love my support group network...)

And I will do fine... As soon as I am on the plane tonight, and there is no backing out, I will be fine... (Until then, I will wonder if silly things like the color of polish on my toes or the dress I wear to dinner, or if I happen to look like I love basking in the sun too much, will be some sort of signal that I am all wrong for their beloved son...)

LoL... Then I will of course worry about the important things... Like compatibility and if I fit into the family. Or if I possess nine-million other traits of importance, like kindness and integrity and humor and so on...

Or perhaps I won't... (Worry that is...) After all, the Boyfriend adores me... And I have loved his Mother's e-mails and phone call, and meeting his Aunt and Uncle... And those are telling things...

So... I am off... To go spend one last time basking in the "sun" at the local salon... (It's better than drugs... 20 minutes of total, utter bliss while baking from the inside out... Ahh... Relaxation...)

Cross your fingers...

OMG...

Maternal... instinct... is... in... OVER-DRIVE... Someone save me...

I am only gone for five days...

This small child is only my niece... And I am going nuts... I have it bad. Really, really bad for this little wiggle-worm.

And when I get back, they turn around and go back home to Denver. (I am trying not to think about when they all go home...)

Who knew that such a small thing, creature, being, child, could bring about such big emotions... (Emotions that I have for the other three as well, but this one is so small comparatively...)

Ahh... The hormones... Got to just LOVE those... (Poor Boyfriend... Actually I won't be a wreck until next weekend, so the "poor Boyfriend" part should wait until then...)

Weekly Weigh In...

Ha!

Some Weekly Weigh In this has been shaping out to be... (All this traveling and family and boyfriend and friends and life and blah blah blah, excuse excuse excuse...)

Really though... I seem to have hit a plateau... With my weight, sure... But more actually with my mentality regarding it...

It is not that I have stopped caring about it... I do. It is not that I have gotten overly comfortable with it, I have not. Comfortable, sure, but not overly so... I just have gotten to the place where right now it is not the single most important thing in my life. It is not the driving force of my waking moments... It is not the reason I do the things I do... It just is some thing that is what it is for now...

And I am not so sure how I feel about that...

I mean, I am supposed to be working towards a goal right? One that I set up for myself... So... Hmmm... And I do feel that I should be focusing on eating better and getting more physical activity while I can... But... Hmmm... What sort of direction do I really want to go with this? Thinner is great... Muscle tone is fabulous... But health is most important... Right? So what about peace of mind? Or not being overwhelmed by it all? (And while I do know that life and everything in it is what you make of it... And things only happen by the priorities that you place on them... So really... Where are mine?

The answer is... I just don't know anymore...

So the Weigh In...

I am the same...
The weight is the same...
The BMI is the same...
The non-existent purposeful exorcise is the same...
I look and feel the same...
It is all the same...

The only thing that has changed, is that there are fewer days to the goal that I had set for myself... I am down to 40... Grrr... 40...

Well... I am guessing by my reaction to 40 days left, that I might not be as complacent about the whole thing as I initially thought...

Grrr...

Outing with the girls...

Last night was the night for girlish gossip... (Which I have not done in so very, very long...) It had been so long since we had all gotten together that I even got a little lost getting to our "regular" place... A place of so-so food, but to-die-for margaritas... (I remembered a little too late that I can no longer do tequila, I have to stick to rum, but it was worth it... That was the best blended peach margarita I have ever had...)

One of the "girls" for the night was a boyfriend... Who while certainly not one of "us" ("us" being the silly and high-speed talkers of such life frivolities as to the latest travel adventures and life updates of us and everyone we collectively know...) was a very good sport about the whole thing... (I even think he was rather amused about the whole thing...)

So... Here is the latest that I learned...

Everyone is traveling... To the extent of Where's Waldo, just like me...
Everyone is going through tons of life changes, just like me...
Everyone is happy, but wishing just a little for a small moment to catch a breath, just like me...

All that, and it only took six hours to figure out that we are all in the same place... (Too bad that the same place is not locationally the same...) It is kind of a re-assuring thought that we are still as we have been, yet not at all the same...

Pairs Cleaning...

This should be an Olympic sport...

Pairs Cleaning... (or perhaps they would call it Synchronized Scrubbing...)

This is how I spent my morning... Visiting with my sister-in-law... (It was of course prompted by my Father on another rampage, but we did have quite a few laughs over who focused on what... I simply MUST have a bleached out trash can, she is devoted to PERFECTLY spotless base boards...)

It is funny that cleaning can be a bonding experience... Who knew... But... As the bubble foam up, and the soap suds slip down the shower tiles, the friendship forms stronger as the chatter goes on and on...

(For some reason, this infuriated my Father to no end... We of course were not doing what he wanted... What he wanted was for us to spend an hour in solitude contemplating how we had misbehaved by talking and laughing like sisters do rather than sitting in silence as all children, young or old, are supposed to do...)

But... I am determined not to rant over this... Really...

What I was doing was sharing how cleaning can be a team sport... (One filled with cheating tricks like bleach and magic erasers... Not to mention the funny training errors like cleaning yourself into a corner and then wondering how you are going to get yourself out of the bathroom without leaving footprints across the wet floor... Or almost passing out from all of the fumes formulating and there is no window to open to help pass them through for proper ventilation... Course, the fumes make everything more funny than they might otherwise be... So who would really choose to open a window if there was a window to open?)

Well...

I better stop for now... Break time is over and the Slave Driver is pacing over my shoulder... (Seems like no matter how old you get, or how much you do, that with some parents, you are always a stupid, inept child that can not do anything right... But... No ranting... Really... But... This time around, I have a partner-in-crime with my Sister-in-Law around... And that makes EVERYTHING better...)

Speed of Light...

So things have been going at the speed of light... The four little ones have me going, going, going from early til way to late... (Don't they ever sleep at the same time?) And while there is a moment of quiet, I have been preping for the Labrynth Ball...

In the middle of all the chaos I have learned a few things about life with small children...

When you go to the restroom, you must always wipe the lid and the seat before you sit... The result if you do not, is less that desirable... Especially in the dark and in the middle of the night when you are so tired that you can hardly hold yourself upright...

When putting small children to bed, it is enevitably the smallest one that will need the most sleep, but will be the most determined to stay away... this results in keeping up the rest of the house...

Naptime, though often fought, is VITAL... Vital to keep the crabbiness at bay... Vital to finding the time to do (yet another) load of laundry... Vital to closing your own euyes for five whole minutes... Vital to your sanity... Cartrips are NOT a sure thing to get small children to sleep, no matter what my Mother always said...

Carseats may be very important things to keep little ones safe, but they were really invented as an entertainment function as the big ones try (desperatly) to get them installed and functioning properly... The fun does not end just after the initial use... It happens every time you try to place a wiggly, squirmy child in one... Taking them out of the car seat is like more dangerous than attempting to bathe a cat...

Toys with noise should, but do not usually have a volume control... If there IS a volume control, then that will enevitably be the first thing that the child playing with it will figure out... Earplugs are a MUST...

Crayola washable markers are heaven sent... They really do wash off of skin, and look like Indian War Paint when in the hands of a two year old...

Crayons are more fun to peel the paper off of and eat... Who knew that wax tasted so good...

Quickie...

Now everyone knows that I am not one for quickies... But... they do have their place...

Like right now...

In the stolen moments of the chaos that has been going on in the middle of the road trips and the family dramas and the rush to complete four outfits for the Ball this weekend...

So...

If I have not said hello...
Or left a comment in a while...
Or responded to an e-mail that you sent me AGES ago...
Or participated in a thread...

I apologize...

Gone Shopping...

Today I bought a sewing machine... (Well TWO actually...)

When did they get so expensive? And when did it get so difficult to find a simple machine that would do just forward and reverse, straight and zig zag stitches? I don't do the kind of sewing that I used to... (I can't, and really don't want to get tempted to play with a new toy...)

After going without a machine for so long... (I have had a sewing machine, or two, or three, since I was about eight...) I finally got to the point where I had to have one again... (Like a TV... I used to be so good and not even own a TV... but somehow, somewhere along the way I acquired a 36" monstrosity used for viewing DVD's and the occasional DDR Max dance off...)

I looked (scoured is more accurate...) all over for an inexpensive model... They just don't exist... Or so I thought... When I realized that this was going to end up qualifying as an actual expenditure, I did the normal thing and budgeted for it... (I know, I know... It's just a sewing machine, but I organize my sock drawer by color...)

Why is it that...

Why is it that whenever I drink...

The next morning I wake up thinking that someone left their Aunt Mable's sable fur coat wrapped around my tongue?

-sigh-

At least I had tons of fun last night...

-sigh-

At least I think I had tons of fun last night...

And after all the conversations about being old, I am SURE I had fun last night... (I am never too old too party till the fur coats come out...)

I hope that all of you had as great of a fourth of July as I did...

Sparklers...
Potato salad...
Hot Dogs...
Tons of children riding around the party on every type of toy with wheels...
Lots of simultaneous conversations...
Scads of friends and family...
Laughter...
Incredible phone calls catching everything up...
Fireworks...
Drinks, drinks, and more drinks...
Passing out on the sofa just before dawn...
Tongues encased in fur coats, followed by the best teeth brushing of the century...
No hangovers of any kind thanks to emergen-C elixirs...
Glorious weather to start out the summer...

Paging the missing passenger to her flight...

Well... That is what SHOULD have happened... But it didn't... The short story is that I have had a very adventurous day... More fun than a barrel of monkeys... We are skipping to the end... I am safe and sound and happily ensconsed with family in Colorado for the next day before starting the second road trip...

With that out of the way...

Paging the missing passenger to her flight... Paging her to her flight before it leaves without her... Ahead of the scheduled departure time...

Wait...

Does this not sound right to you? It doesn't to me either... That was what SHOULD have happened this morning... That was what COULD have happened... Perhaps even MIGHT have happened... But it is NOT what REALLY happened...

So...

Last night I arrived in San Diego... Late... Daddy picked me up (Yes, I still call him Daddy... No, he does not call me Princess, everyone else does... Well, not so much anymore, but we're not talking about that right now...)

So...

Last night Daddy picked me up from the airport late... I had a grand total of 6 hours before I had to be back at the airport... With tons to do... (Which I did, and even managed to get three hours of sleep in...) Then Daddy took me back to the airport at the unseemly early hour of 4:30... Yes, you read that right... 4:30...

I happily caught my flight to Las Vegas... (I say happily as I am one of those terrible morning people... I am fabulous for the first several hours that I get up, no matter how early... The trick is to look for a nice quiet place to take a nap a handful of hours later to re-energize... I am big on naps...)

So...

I happily caught my flight to Las Vegas and happily made it off the plane with my two carry on bags... (The sum of my luggage... I might have finally learned to pack light, thanks to the Boyfriend and the last road trip...) I happily got a little lost on the way to the next gate to cetch my connecting flight to Denver... The boarding pass got a tad smugged and it was difficult to tell which gate, but I thought I had found the right one...

But...

It was deserted... And the monitor said that the next flight was to San Antonio... Hmmm... So I did what any normal person would have done... I walked two gates over and got in line to speak to the agent there... When I got to the front, the agent told me that the flight was going to Pittsburg or some other far away place that was totally the wrong place that did not sound anything like Denver... That agent pointed me back to the gate assigned to San Antonio, which also does not sound like Denver, and said that was my gate.

But...

When I got back to that gate, which was all of about 50-70 feet away, it was still deserted...

But...

Over by the door at the gangway to the plane was an agent. So I went over the that agent and asked if that was the right gate for Denver. The agent said that it HAD been... That the flight had left twenty minutes earlier...

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

It was just now the departure time scheduled for my flight... It was only just 9:10 am... If that was right they left early... The agent said that they had... And then seid that there was another flight to Denver at 11:30 am... Go to a gate not too far away and speak to the agent there... There were 3 seats left... No worries...

No worries... Riiight...

So...

I went over the gate that was not too far away and waited in line to speak to the agent there... The incredible flirty, smiling, helpful agent there... That is until the 3 guys in front of me went on their merry way leaving a nasty, short-tempered, scouling agent staring at me as if I had 2 heads... (Too bad one of those heads was not a flirty hot guy... Things might have turned out differently...)

But...

They didn't... Instead, they went this way...

I was told that ALL the flights were booked... All the flights until tomorrow where they might be able to put me as stand by on a flight to Chicago... And then try to get to Denver from there... But to fly stand by would cost just under $200.00 and to get from Chigago to Denver would tack on another $300.00-$500.00... Um... Let me think about this... NO! And when I asked why it was that I was not paged over the intercom, she had no answer. And when I asked why it was that the monitor had read San Antoinio, she had no answer... All she would say was to wait to see if a flight would open up... (As in wait there by the desk until Hell froze over and the little piggies sprouted wings so that I might try to grab hold and try to get myself to Denver that way...)

So...

I called my family to let them know what was going on and that I was stranded...

And then...

As soon as that agant went on her break, I tried again with her replacement... No luck...

The agent listened to me explain what had happened and took my boarding pass that the agent down at the San Antonio boarding gate had helpfully scralled "missed" upon... She took down my name and the conformation number for my ticket and said that all the flights were booked up. All the flights including the 11:30 flight that had 3 available seats on board. (Yes still 3 seats available, but not to me...) All the flights that the airline had until tomorrow, perhaps later... Standby... For TOMORROW or later...

Arrrghhh!!!

So I called my family (again)... Daddy checked the internet, which revealed that there were available seats on every single flight out to Denver... Hmmm... Mom put me in touch with a friend that used to work for the airlines that told me just what to say, and found a hotel for that dreaded just in case I really am stranded until whenever... My Sister-in-Law called one of the 800 numbers for the airline, and gave the other 800 number to call to see what the customer service side of the airline could do... Round and round we all went...

And then I asked for the manager...

Who took his sweet time getting to the gate where I was... And then proceeded to lecture me on how it was all my fault, and that 143 other people made it to the plane, and that the place actually left late, (WHAT?!?!?!?!?) and they had paged me several times, (REALLY?!?!?!? Yeah right...) and the airline had OVER-SOLD the flights... (Now we are getting down to the truth of the matter...) So there was just nothing available for me...

So...

Let us just say, that in the end, I was given a new ticket to a new flight that went to Denver after stopping in Salt Lake City. I did not have to de-board the plane and the flight was leaving at 1:30, only a couple hours more to wait... And instead of arriving in Denver at noon, I was landing at 5:30... But I was going to be able to make it to Denver after all...

The best part...

The new flight left from the same gate as the original flight that I had missed... And the manager stopped by to make sure that I knew where the gate was...

Of course I did...

It was the one with the monitor marked for departure to San Antonio... (Which as everyone knows, sounds EXACTLY like Denver...)

Thanks for the HUGS!

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful hugs and support... I feel so much better!

Everyone was so incredible with their comments and messages... The Boyfriend came through with the perfect dinner and evening laughing to the antics of the poor Inspector Clouseau in the original Pink Panther movie... (I love how laughter makes things better, especially since he is a bigger klutz than I am... Who knew?)

So...

My travels are starting up (yet again) and I have just six hours between flights... Just enough time to check the e-mail, postings, do a load of laundry, water my beloved plants, take a nice cold shower (It's HOT here in Southern California...) and head back to the airport to fly away into the blue again... (Here's to sleeping on the plane... Cross your fingers...) Then on to the second of my scheduled Road Trips this summer... (I am not counting the drive from SF to BM as a Road Trip. That will be the start of the Burning Adventure Tour 2007... Good Name huh?) This time we are to hit Las Vegas and the Hoover Dam... Should be very entertaining as my sister-in-law and I will be out-numbered by the kids two to one, and they are all small... (Hooray for juice boxes and goldfish crackers!)

Well my Dears, I am off...
MUAH!!