Salt of the Earth

Hard to believe 12 years ago today I had Thomas. It’s been an amazing 12 years. He’s such a great kid. He’s so smart and sweet and has a great sense of humor. I love him to death.

Today some girls decorated his locker and a bunch of his friends gave him little birthday cards and notes. It was very sweet- he let me see ’some’ of them. I’m good with that. I don’t need to see all of them. Ignorance is bliss.

We took him to dinner tonight to Changs. He loves that place. We gave him money and a hot chocolate maker. (he loves gadgets).

He’s changed so much in this last year. He’s grown up in so many ways. He has such an amazing sense of ethics and manners. He makes me laugh with his silly 12 year old jokes. Playing the bass and being in chamber orchestra has given him so much confidence- not to mention giving him a ‘cool’ reputation. He has picked a group of friends that I really like and are low maintenance just like he is. He is the alpha male among his friends- but he doesn’t bully them. I respect that. He’s very good to Graham and takes care of him and teases him and picks on him- cause that’s a big brother’s right. The kittens love him the most. The follow him around like little chicks.

I’d say he’s a pretty happy kid. That’s all I really want for him.

Today is always a bitter-sweet day. Happy because it’s Thomas’ day, sad because my grandma died 11 years ago today. I am so very happy that she got to meet Thomas 2 weeks before she died. I don’t feel sad that she died- only because the last time I saw her she was so happy. She died watching Wheel of Fortune- peacefully in her sleep. That’s a good way to go. I know she’s up in Heaven being the cowgirl she always was.

Miss you grandma

Happy 12 th Birthday my little Cha-Chi.

T

Last night we celebrated Thomas 12th birthday with his friends. (actual birthday is the 30th) According to Thomas and his friends it was the best birthday party they’d ever been to. It was pretty cool. For the past month now Thomas has been planning out his birthday-and he was surprised that it actually happened. He thought it would be cool to rent an executive suite at a hotel and have his friends spend the night. I have a friend who manages a Staybridge Inn & Suites and she graciously gave me the family discount for a suite. It was awesome. 2 full rooms and bathrooms, a living area and a kitchen AND 3 TV’s. We arrived early at the hotel to set up our Wii and I started making spaghetti for the boys and waited for them to arrive. After what seemed like forever in an 11 year olds eyes, the rest of the boys arrived with their game systems and Guitar Hero guitars.
Two sets of my friends who had boys there stayed and had spaghetti and drinks with Mick and me as our boys battled it out guitar style. It was awesome. The boys challenged me to a couple songs and I got my butt kicked BIG TIME. But it was so worth talking smack and egging them on. Around 8pm we headed to the pool and the boys engaged in chicken fights, belly flops and cannon balls. I headed back to the room early- leaving the boys in care of the ‘dads’. My friend Tami and I set up the present that I got for Thomas- which was a chocolate fountain. He has ALWAYS wanted one and i thought it would be the perfect birthday ‘cake’. We cut up a ton of fruit and put out marshmellows (strawberry and chocolate), pretzels, pound cake….etc… it was a HUGE feast and I couldn’t wait until Thomas saw it. What seemed like forever in 38 year old eyes finally came to an end when Thomas and friends arrived back to the room. I made them wait outside while I lit the spiral candles that I had poked into the marshmellows. When Thomas walked in his eyes got huge and he looked up at me and gave me the biggest and BEST smile. It was so awesome. The boys went crazy over the fountain and soon they were all devouring the nice little edibles. After eating their weight in chocolate and watching Thomas open his gifts, they decided it was time to play some serious games. One of the boys brought Dance, Dance, Revolution and Graham and I LOVED it. Occationally one of the boys would come out from the other room and give it a go- but for the most part Graham and I boogied the night away. SO FUN. Around 1pm I decided the boys should go to bed. They all quieted down pretty easily and fell asleep by 1:30am. I let them sleep in until 9:30am then got them up for the huge continental breakfast that the hotel is known for. They were all groggy and stumbling around and trying to find shoes and I was thinking that rounding up these boys is like herding kittens. Finally we got to the breakfast bar and they all ate like they hadn’t eaten in days. Sadly, after breakfast we had to get ready to check out. One of the boys offered to pay for another night so we could all stay there-but Mick and I were ready to head home. Before turning the lights out last night I over heard the boys talking about the party and how it was the best party ever. The breakfast conversation consisted of the same topic and several of the boys asked if I would chaperone their next birthday party AND bring the chocolate fountain. It was a lot of fun. We packed up our stuff, loaded up our two tired boys and headed home to an afternoon of napping and relaxing with our kittens. It was a birthday i hope they will always remember with fond memories as i will.

Happy Birthday TJ.
I Love you so very much

T

Last night i had a dream that I was back in the house where I ‘grew up’. It’s the house I dream of a lot when I dream of being a kid. In this particular dream my mom had saved a dresser of mine and it was full of all the little trinkets and toys I had as a child. When I woke up I had that warm fuzzy feeling. Just remembering little things like that makes me feel like a kid again.

I should be sleeping. It’s late. Everyone in my house- even the kittens- are fast asleep. I’m watching Planet of the Apes, and even though I know how it’s going to end I still want to stay up to see Charleton Heston scream on the beach as he discovers the Statue of Liberty in the sand. I love bad sci fi.

T

Ah it’s been awhile since I blogged and I still have so much to say about our trip. Quick catch up here first. I am remodeling our entry way and hallway. It looks SO much better. A ton of work but so worth it in the end.

SO the next leg of our trip was to Moreno Valley to visit Mick’s sister and her family. After our stop at In and Out Burger we just drove. After most of the drive was done Mick asked if we could switch drivers so he could rest a bit before we got to his sisters. I stepped into the drivers seat and drove. At one point all 3 boys were sleeping and it was very quiet. The scenery around sunset was gorgeous! All three boys woke up when the car suddenly slowed down to what I thought must be an accident. I was wrong- it was just L.A. traffic. UGH! We had made such good time until that point and then there were long stretches where i could only go 20-40 mph. My buns were tired and I was ready to be at the Foxes. I was impatiently looking for the exit number in which we were to take - but crazy CA highways don’t have exit numbers on every exit. Mick’s sister and niece had been texting us to see where we were and they said we were about 10 minutes away! WHOO HOO. I looked up and saw the exit number and it said otherwise. I wanted to cry. Then the most wonderful thing happen. The highway divided and our exit was next. I was so relieved. It seemed like it took forever to make the 5 minute drive to their house cause we were so ready and excited to be there. And finally we arrived. Everyone came out to greet us and Steve went back to frying his turkey which we would be eating shortly. MMMMM We went inside and chatted then sat down for a well needed home cooked meal. At this point I was a bit amused because there were glasses of milk served for everyones sitting. It was like it was just a given that you drink milk with dinner. I hadn’t had milk with dinner for years. But hey, when in Rome….. So while I was stuffing my face with fried turkey, stuffing, corn stuff, rolls and a yummy salad i drank my milk. It was SO good with dinner. It all made perfect sense to me as to why it was there. Good stuff. After dinner Mick’s sister Maridee took the boys and me to see this house with really cool lights and Christmas animation. The boys just loved it. We went back to the Fox house and exchanged gifts. The boys were very touched that Aunt Maridee got them T-shirts and PEZ. I gave the Foxes some candles and Mick’s mom a photo album with pictures from last summer. Trish and I chatted for a bit then she had to go to bed cause she had to work early the next day. I think it was at that point that I realized that I was exhausted too so I went to bed. Next morning Maridee made us a yummy breakfast as we packed up and got ready to go. Before we left she asked if anyone wanted a turkey sandwich for the road. I took her up on that offer cause I love home made turkey sandwiches. As we were loading up Maridee handed me a little red box full of home made cookies. i was so touched by this gesture. It was just one of those things that made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It was so nice having someone else be responsible and thoughtful and kind. It was another perfect day. We said our sad goodbyes and loaded up and headed out for Arizona. I have since then filled up the little red box with tea and keep it in my work bag. Just another nice little reminder of our good time at the Foxes.

…back to my painting project. Painting the walls/trim does not work very well with 3 little curious kittens. All of them have managed to get paint on them and Baby stuck his front paw in my open container then ran away from me- leaving little smeared paw prints all the way to the garage. If they weren’t so damn cute I’d make mittens out of them.

T

We are back now from our little Christmas vacation. It was such a great trip. I am going to try to blog each day because so much happened and there is so much to tell. It’s all good and it was all in all a wonderful trip. We started out on Friday after Thomas got out of school. Graham had the day off so he and i ran last minute errands and got us all packed up and ready to go. The first night we made it to Medford and then stopped off at a Motel 6 for the night. The next day we got up early and started the drive to the Bay Area to visit my Aunt, Uncle and cousins. It had been 3 years since I’d been back ‘home’. I was so ready to be back in California. As soon as I saw the first ‘Bay Area’ sign i felt butterflies in my stomach. When we pulled off the highway to Central Lafayette, I was beside myself. When we pulled into my aunt and uncles house I could barely control myself from leaping from the moving car. It was so good to walk in the front door and see my aunt, uncle and cousin and his wife. Hugs and kisses all around. My uncle immediately put out great food for us. We spent the evening catching up and opening gifts. It was perfect. After dinner we went for a walk on a trail that i’ve walked on many, many times. This trail has been a very good friend to me and it was so good to be walking there and looking at all the beautiful houses with Christmas lights. When we got back to their house we all just sat around and reminisced and laughed and had a good time. Several times i just sat back and looked at my family- all together. I felt so loved it was amazing. We talked about old times and we talked about Isamu. I talked about how he died and the last time I saw him living. We talked about Bob Marley and my cousin and his wonderful wife knew the words to my favorite song. I loved every minute of it. I wanted time to stop and I wanted to spend so much more time in this moment- with my family. But the night came to an end and we all had to go to sleep. The next morning we woke up to Uncle Ralph making a yummy breakfast. After breakfast we had to get on our way to our part of the trip. Leaving was so hard. I dragged my feet getting packed up- and saying good-bye. I hugged my family several times and fought back tears. When we finally pulled out I took one last look at my family, smiled and waved and my heart just broke. I didn’t want to leave, but I knew i had too. I so wanted to go back to being just a girl and living the simple life that I lived there. As our car pulled away I was just so sad. Sad because I had to say goodbye, sad because I knew I could never go back to being just that girl. I was sad to leave my aunt and uncle behind - sadder than when I moved away from California. I was sad that my aunt and uncle were sad. Sad because for one more day i got to be just that girl when I was just so tried of being just the girl i am right now. It was just what I needed. We drove for several hours- heading down towards our next stop. We stopped at In and Out Burger and the boys enjoyed that. It was at that point that I was able to just be happy.

T