Maybe not 100.... but my house has been kid free now for about 5 hours.. and will be for the next week.. and I am adding up the things I love about this. In the last few weeks... my middle son has gotten married and headed out to be a Marine.... my oldest son has moved out of the house.... son number 3 is working hard and planning on leaving this summer for boot camp... daughter is.. right this moment... on a plane to LA to check out some colleges for next year... and this mom has been dealing with a lot of empty nest feelings. It is all happening so quickly and had been making me feel pretty old and alone.
Now only hours after the last kid is gone for the whole week... I am NOT feeling old or alone... I spent the first hour alone cleaning the house... and guess what .. it is still clean!!! This is the most awesome feeling... I keep walking through the place...oh yeah.. everything is still where I put it! No one made any dirty dishes... or crumbs.. or .. hey wait... that takes me to the next thing I am loving... All the food is still in the fridge.. and.. it will be every time I look.. for a week. I also do not need to "guard" the last cup of coffee in the pot.... no one will drink it.... seems every time I leave a cup there for a "just in case moment" so I could warm it up if needed later in the day... as soon as I am not looking someone drinks it.
I also get my choice of bathrooms... might not seem like a big deal... but when we moved in here.. there were 7 people and one bathroom... now we have two bathrooms.. a kid one and adult one... but hey... I can use the kid one or the adult one (and they are both clean and will stay that way.. for a week) Every time I walk through the house... everything is where I left it... no extra noises... no need to put on a bra..... no weird smells... no questions... no comments... no one in my space... I am going to have to battle not to start remodeling their rooms... I have at least one more year for one bedroom.. and two years for the other room.. then they are all ours... if these kids come back to visit they better bring a sleeping bag and plan on pulling up some floor... I needed this reminder that no matter how much I love my kids... and I love being with them.. that... there does comes a time.. when we are meant to go our own ways and that it is ok for me to let go and let them grow up :) I now have things to do and plans to make.. 2 years will be like a blink of an eye :)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Wonderful Weekend
Yesterday was good.. Dave and I are feeling a bit under the weather.. getting the cold from the oldest son... so we took it easy most the day.. then we went for a short walk on the beach at sunset.. and watched some movies.... today my oldest son moved into his own place... he is so excited.. and I am so happy for him... my other son was going to be helping him.. then staying the night there.. so they can head out and go camping for a few days.
We decided we needed to get out of the house for a few hours.. I needed to get some more sticks for a couple of orders of garden stakes... we needed some fresh air and some exercise.. also wanted to get some pictures taken and do a little road trip. I had signed us up on the geo caching website a couple of days ago.. we have talked about "going to do it" for a long time... today was the day.. we took some cards with the info to a couple of caches and off we went. We are already making plans on when we can go again and things to put in the boxes.
We went out on Mountain Loop Highway.. a road we go to play on often.. it does not really go anywhere but from one very small town ( Granite Falls) to another very small town (Darrington ) Lots of trails off this road... and a lot of train history. Today we walked on the Robe Trail.... we walked on the very old railroad... right to the tunnels... it was just amazing. I loved the kids asking questions and pointing out the old ties and hardware.
We then took a drive up Green Mountain Road... lots of beautiful views up there.. and waterfalls and even played in the snow :) Also a great place to get some sticks :) Came home on a back road... Felt like we were filming a commercial... swerving to miss the many frogs jumping across the road... I am sad to say we did not miss them all... we did miss the deer though... and the raccon... lol all the way out the mountains and we find all the wildlife on jorden road on the way home.
We stopped and had some dinner then headed home.... one of the things I love the most.. is how much the kids talk to us while we go on these adventures.. the questions they ask and the stuff they share... lot of great bonding. I did learn some things about sons friends that I did not need or want to know.. but.. it was an awesome weekend.
To see more photos of our trip today.. just click on the photo above to visit my flickr page.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Some Things
Just some random things I want to share.
Found this site in the Costco magazine and have been drooling over it ever since. As soon as I can pick which items I want added to my chocolate I plan on ordering one and giving them a try. You pick what type of chocolate.. dark, milk or white and then pick from things like different nuts.. or fruits.. or candies or hey.. even things like bacon bits. You can make it pretty.. weird.. or just about anything.... Chocomize .... Would love to hear what you would pick for your chocolate bar.
I spent some time this last weekend working on some new items for my shop... I love making them and they seem to be a hit :) Rustic Garden Stakes. Finding stakes is a fun thing to do with my kids on our walks... and then I just carve a bit of a point on one end and a flat space on the other... wood burn the word onto the stick then spray with a lacquer... add some beads and they are ready to go :) * check out my shop here *
Talked to my lawyers office today about my shoulder... it is all so frustrating... shoulder is still hurting and keeping me from doing most things I want to do... need to find out what I should do now... it is better than it was before the surgery and the physical therapy .. but not getting any better... just sort of at a standstill.. and now with spring here and gardening happening... it hurting more and more... because I am wanting to use it... it is hard... when I am walking I still have to hold it by my side.. if I get to swinging it too much then the next day I can hardly move it... learned that shoveling is out of the question all together.. and waxing the car... no way... I feel like a lazy bum most the time. Hard to remember that the day we had the accident we were on the way to gym... where we played racket-ball at least 3 times a week... I can not even imagine playing that now. Thing is... there are a lot of things I can do... one if I am very careful.. two.. if I plan on hurting... not sleeping that night.. or doing anything the next day. I am starting to be afraid that this is how it will end up being...no way is that going to be ok.
Speaking of the accident... the jeep we were in when we were hit has been all fixed up and it is back on the road. It needed both front end and back end work since we were hit in the back so hard that it slammed us into the car in front of us. We were one week over having it back on the street 2 years after the accident. It took us awhile to collect the parts needed. Everything still worked.. the hood and tailgate.. still opened and closed.. they were just dinged up.. and both bumpers were smashed up... the only thing we had to get brand new was the radiator. I can not believe it was totaled.. but I guess with all the little parts and stuff and how much things cost that it just added up ... if we had replaced everything with brand new parts it might not have been worth it... being able to take some time and collect them off craigslist was awesome. Now it has tabs and is insured and we have driven it and there are no problems. I am still a bit nervous being in it... hard when my shoulder still hurts.. but I know if it had not been for the jeep being such a good car.. it would have been worse. I will get more comfortable.. I do love this jeep. I love the commander too.. but there is just something about this one that is nice. I think it was the fact that I went from years of crappy cars and mini vans.. to a grown up car... it has a special place in my heart :) *yeah I know it is a car* lol
Found this site in the Costco magazine and have been drooling over it ever since. As soon as I can pick which items I want added to my chocolate I plan on ordering one and giving them a try. You pick what type of chocolate.. dark, milk or white and then pick from things like different nuts.. or fruits.. or candies or hey.. even things like bacon bits. You can make it pretty.. weird.. or just about anything.... Chocomize .... Would love to hear what you would pick for your chocolate bar.
I spent some time this last weekend working on some new items for my shop... I love making them and they seem to be a hit :) Rustic Garden Stakes. Finding stakes is a fun thing to do with my kids on our walks... and then I just carve a bit of a point on one end and a flat space on the other... wood burn the word onto the stick then spray with a lacquer... add some beads and they are ready to go :) * check out my shop here *
Talked to my lawyers office today about my shoulder... it is all so frustrating... shoulder is still hurting and keeping me from doing most things I want to do... need to find out what I should do now... it is better than it was before the surgery and the physical therapy .. but not getting any better... just sort of at a standstill.. and now with spring here and gardening happening... it hurting more and more... because I am wanting to use it... it is hard... when I am walking I still have to hold it by my side.. if I get to swinging it too much then the next day I can hardly move it... learned that shoveling is out of the question all together.. and waxing the car... no way... I feel like a lazy bum most the time. Hard to remember that the day we had the accident we were on the way to gym... where we played racket-ball at least 3 times a week... I can not even imagine playing that now. Thing is... there are a lot of things I can do... one if I am very careful.. two.. if I plan on hurting... not sleeping that night.. or doing anything the next day. I am starting to be afraid that this is how it will end up being...no way is that going to be ok.
Speaking of the accident... the jeep we were in when we were hit has been all fixed up and it is back on the road. It needed both front end and back end work since we were hit in the back so hard that it slammed us into the car in front of us. We were one week over having it back on the street 2 years after the accident. It took us awhile to collect the parts needed. Everything still worked.. the hood and tailgate.. still opened and closed.. they were just dinged up.. and both bumpers were smashed up... the only thing we had to get brand new was the radiator. I can not believe it was totaled.. but I guess with all the little parts and stuff and how much things cost that it just added up ... if we had replaced everything with brand new parts it might not have been worth it... being able to take some time and collect them off craigslist was awesome. Now it has tabs and is insured and we have driven it and there are no problems. I am still a bit nervous being in it... hard when my shoulder still hurts.. but I know if it had not been for the jeep being such a good car.. it would have been worse. I will get more comfortable.. I do love this jeep. I love the commander too.. but there is just something about this one that is nice. I think it was the fact that I went from years of crappy cars and mini vans.. to a grown up car... it has a special place in my heart :) *yeah I know it is a car* lol
Monday, February 22, 2010
Weekend Road Trip
The last few weekends we have been going on mountain road trips... 3 weeks ago we headed up highway 20, as far as it would let us go... and we took two of the kids with us.. That is my favorite mountain trip... you follow the river all the way up... just beautiful. They say it is one of the best places to see bald eagles in our area... but I saw fewer on that trip than in the local neighborhood We checked out a couple of parks/camp grounds.. and had a great dinner at a cafe... it was a lot of fun but we did not find any snow to play in. We did do some fun small hikes in the trees.
The next weekend we headed up to Mt Baker... this time just Dave and I... it was another beautiful sunny day...could not resist.... it was also opening day for the Olympics which are happening just on the other side of the border... so there were a LOT of border cops on this trip. We had to go all the way to the top of the mountain to get any snow and even then there was not much. We were able to explore some of the service roads off the main road... Can't wait to get the Cherokee fixed up so we can do some more exploring.. I get very nervous when we take the Commander off the main road... I hate it when it gets dirty :)
This weekend we took Dave's mom to her doctors appointment in Bellingham so on the way back we took the back roads... down Chuckanut drive and then through the flats to LaConner.... so pretty... saw some bald eagles... and lots of snow geese and even a coyote in a field.. not the same field with the snow geese, he was just hanging out by himself.
We also saw so many signs of spring.. the flowers blooming... it was really a nice day. We then spent the afternoon and all day Saturday working on the jeep and around the house.. did some spring cleaning... got the lawn moved... the cars all washed... the jeep is up and running good with only the bumpers and a water bottle waiting to be put on... (waiting on ups) so on Sunday we decided to get up and take off for another mountain run... this time we went up highway 2 across Stevens pass... then had lunch in Wenatchee.. we were looking for a hamburger joint.. but found a skippers fish and chips.. like the only one left in the whole state I think..... woohooo. We then headed over Blewitt pass... to Cle Elum.. stopped for a great milkshake... and came over on 90 over Snoqualmie pass. So now after hitting 5 mountain/passes in 3 weeks... I can tell you... there is NOT enough snow on them... this summer is going to be messed up... I expect our power bills to go way up.. and lots of water shortage... I expect to see more wild fires too :( I love the beautiful weather we have been having.. but... not looking forward to a dry summer.
We also saw so many signs of spring.. the flowers blooming... it was really a nice day. We then spent the afternoon and all day Saturday working on the jeep and around the house.. did some spring cleaning... got the lawn moved... the cars all washed... the jeep is up and running good with only the bumpers and a water bottle waiting to be put on... (waiting on ups) so on Sunday we decided to get up and take off for another mountain run... this time we went up highway 2 across Stevens pass... then had lunch in Wenatchee.. we were looking for a hamburger joint.. but found a skippers fish and chips.. like the only one left in the whole state I think..... woohooo. We then headed over Blewitt pass... to Cle Elum.. stopped for a great milkshake... and came over on 90 over Snoqualmie pass. So now after hitting 5 mountain/passes in 3 weeks... I can tell you... there is NOT enough snow on them... this summer is going to be messed up... I expect our power bills to go way up.. and lots of water shortage... I expect to see more wild fires too :( I love the beautiful weather we have been having.. but... not looking forward to a dry summer.One of the coolest things we saw on the trip this last weekend.. were some kayakers in the river... we had just pulled over to stretch our legs and check the river out and saw this.
And this is what they did :)
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Terrifying Teens
I have been looking around and noticing that there are a LOT of sites/groups/clubs for people with toddlers... lots of support on how to get through the terrible twos... I have also noticed.. there is no where near as much help/support for parents of teenagers. I have 5 teenagers...they all used to be toddlers.. and let me tell you... terrible twos are nothing compared to the terrifying teens. I thought I would start writing a bit on my blog about some of the wonderful *cough* things about teenagers. Going to start writing once a week on it and hopefully there can be some discussion in the comments.. support and ideas and comments... I KNOW there are a lot of people out there with teenagers. I have also talked to my daughter and asked if she would be willing to post once in awhile with her thoughts and/or ideas on things.. I am just going to throw this up once a week for awhile and see where it goes.. will base it on the comments I get and if anyone is interested in any of this.
Why I think I will be good at this... I have 5 kids... 4 boys aged 20...19...18... and step son is 15... and my daughter is 16. I think we have covered just about every subject in this house. We have dealt with girlfriends.. boyfriends... sex.. drinking.. drugs... driving... death....sexual molesting... physical abuse... verbal abuse... split families... step moms.. step dads.. half siblings and step siblings...grand parents... extended family....health issues... grades... failing... living with us and not living with us.....we are now dealing with the military too.. pretty much I think we have covered every subject out there...there are a couple we have not had to deal with... does not mean at some point and time we will not.. that is the biggest thing about teenagers... at least for me.. you never know what is around the corner... toddlers will wear you out physically... lots of chasing.. keeping you up at night.. but a teenager.. will break your heart in ways you never dreamed it could be broken.... Seems like even at the times you are the most proud.. your heart will be breaking. Going to do some writing about those type of things.. would love your input. Please leave a comment! I really want to know what you think about this idea... will you get in on the comments and can we get a discussion started?
Michelle
Why I think I will be good at this... I have 5 kids... 4 boys aged 20...19...18... and step son is 15... and my daughter is 16. I think we have covered just about every subject in this house. We have dealt with girlfriends.. boyfriends... sex.. drinking.. drugs... driving... death....sexual molesting... physical abuse... verbal abuse... split families... step moms.. step dads.. half siblings and step siblings...grand parents... extended family....health issues... grades... failing... living with us and not living with us.....we are now dealing with the military too.. pretty much I think we have covered every subject out there...there are a couple we have not had to deal with... does not mean at some point and time we will not.. that is the biggest thing about teenagers... at least for me.. you never know what is around the corner... toddlers will wear you out physically... lots of chasing.. keeping you up at night.. but a teenager.. will break your heart in ways you never dreamed it could be broken.... Seems like even at the times you are the most proud.. your heart will be breaking. Going to do some writing about those type of things.. would love your input. Please leave a comment! I really want to know what you think about this idea... will you get in on the comments and can we get a discussion started?
Michelle
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
