Jen's Mental Scribblings

I left home last Sunday with a fully packed van and four kids. And a dog. The dog got left with mom.

The ride to Reno was uneventful. We checked into Circus Circus with no problems. We were disappointed to find the buffet closed, so we ate at their in-house diner. The kids had hamburgers.

We got up early and started the drive to Salt Lake. I was warned by several people that there's not much to see between the two. I found them wrong. Gently rolling hills, little valleys, rivers, trains, livestock and gorgeous colors of vegetation! I was really impressed by the abrupt change in the landscape between Nevada and Utah. You knew immediately you were someplace different.

We spent two nights in Salt Lake visiting one of my friends. We went to This is the Place Heritage Park in the morning. The kids really enjoyed it. Its a living history park and the houses are either historic buildings moved to this area or are recreations. I liked how they showed both the homes of poor people and those who were better off. Ike was fascinated by the blacksmith. We also got to see the live version of "gotta piss like a horse" I've never seen that before and the kids were impressed. We spent the afternoon down in Temple Square. The history museum was interesting and the visitors center was fascinating. Then we walked around the temple. There are two sets of impressive doors that haven't been used in ages. If temple-goers want to go in, the entrance is a street away and you go underground. I shudder to think about how they would get everyone out case of fire. The other thing about the Temple that struck me is it's size. Or rather lack thereof. Now. It's tall. It's gloriously tall and impressive. However, the footprint is quite small. I think my Mom's parish church has a bigger footprint. I was expecting something like a Roman Catholic Cathedral size. It's not. I was told they spent 40 years building it. For some reason, I wasn't too impressed. They've been working on the Gaudi Cathedral for over 100 (131 so far with another estimated 13 to go (a couple of wars halted construction, go figure)). Gray decided that he was going to get sick that afternoon and spent the afternoon in my arms. Sleeping. He also decided to pop a pretty good fever that night. But he woke up the next morning bright and chipper.

We spent the 28th driving to Jackson, WY. I got to see wheat fields for the first time ever! Cool. I tried not to breathe too deeply. Pretty drive. I found a road allanh s husband Randy needs to drive. Not only did it have the joy of curves and ups and downs...you got to dodge livestock! It was an uneventful drive. Jackson is gorgeous! We definitely want to go back. We only spent this one night and there's so much to do! Gray decided to get really sick on this night and we were up from about 1:30-4:30 with him alternatively vomiting and extreme EBS. Poor thing. I left a huge tip for the housekeeping crew, he threw up all over the bed several times (after Ike woke us up at 6).

We got up and went to this alpine slide I read about. It was awesome!!! First time I've ever ridden a ski lift. Then we hit the road. Drove through the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Amazing thunder storm overhead as we entered Yellowstone park, and then we crested a hill, and the storm was gone. Blue skies and warm sunshine. Had to convince the children to stick around long enough to see Old Faithful. I had to bribe them with ice cream. Wow. Just wow. Drove out of the park to our next hotel. Gray was miserable by this point and needed to go to bed. Ended up seeing a bison just wandering down the road in the opposite lane before we got out of the park. Yes! Only wildlife we saw in the park. Got to the next hotel and put everyone to bed.

On the 30th we drove to Missoula, MT. There's all these little signs on the side of the road telling you interesting things to see. I stopped at one called the "Lake that Tilted". It kinda caught my attention. Serious earthquake in 1959 literally tilted the lake and created another billion gallons of storage area. It also dumped 80 million tons of rock on the north end and drowned a campground. The mountain damage is obvious and you drive ON TOP of the fallen rock. It was kinda eerie, but also fascinating. Got to the hotel in Missoula.

Everybody felt great the next day on the 31. Joe was flying in and we had time to kill. We had breakfast and then I started to feel awful. So did Ike. I finally got us out of the room and into the car and stopped at the Carousel for Missoula. There's a dragon for the kids to ride!!! Ike was sufficiently sick, he stayed in the car to sleep. The other three rode it twice. Then we hit the road for Kalispell and Joe. The drive was nice, but I was feeling too awful to really notice anything. I got to Joe an hour late. =( But we got to the next hotel and I went to bed while Joe took care of the 3 non sick kids.

This morning we got up and moving and checked out from the hotel with like 5 minutes to spare. We stopped at a local grocery store for food for a couple of days and made it to the house we are staying at. It's gorgeous. On a lake. The kids played. And passed out.

Master Bedroom Day 3(?)

Today Joe decided to purge his closet and dresser. He went through all his clothes and filled 2 garbage bags of clothes for Goodwill. Go Joe! He still needs to rediscover the top of his dresser and the shelf in his closet. We might get to one or both of those tonight. I'm hoping to pull the dressers away from the walls and sweep the floor. I'm sure there are huge clans of the Vorpal Dustbunnies hiding under there.

I also had him pull all the stuff of the shelf in my closet. I filled a bag and a half of stuff to go to Goodwill. Go Me! I am now done with my stuff in the master bedroom. Unfortunately, a lot of stuff ended up in the spare room. We've decided to keep it as a spare room for the moment. We like having a room with an extra bed (and a lock) for guests, friends...whatever. But that means we need to purchase another dresser for the Boys room. The dresser that's in there now is small and barely big enough to hold all of Ike's clothes. If I want to get Gray's clothes out of the spare room (so I can use that antique for storage of my art/craft stash) we need a place to put his clothes. So we are either going to buy another small dresser (cheap) or buy one big dresser (costs more). There's room for either another small dresser or we can rearrange it to get more wall space to put in a bigger one. I'm leaning towards another small one, so the boys don't have to share.

One of the things I love about the spare room is the built in counter and shelves. That room was once used as a craft room by a former owner. It was a big selling point for me, as it's currently a perfect set up as a changing table. As the counter is tall enough for Joe and me not to kill our backs while changing children. Once we get Gray potty trained (and school starts in the fall) a lot of the diapers, wipes and various baby things can continue to move out and the shelving will be available for art/craft supplies. Eliminating the need for more furniture in that room so we can keep it as a spare room (Whew!). 

Last night Joe and I had a date. (Whee!) Our church had it's annual auction last night. We ended up with a pair of San Jose Opera tickets for Die Fledermouse (I've never seen an opera live before and have always wanted to go), two tickets to Great America at about 60% off, and a couple of dinners with other members. We offered up a couple of movie nights that we are going to end up hosting in our house. Since less than 10 people signed up for both, our living room will hold that easily. Its a very silly night with lots of commentary from the crowd. We are too broke to hire a real auctioneer, so two members took turns. They had this very silly hat they passed back and forth between the two of them, and at one change, Joe and I yelled out "Griffyndor!" which made the house laugh. The other big laugh I got for the night was when the auctioneer apologized for spelling Joe's name as Jo for the entire booklet. I yelled out "It's no big deal, it just means I'm a lesbian now". All in all it was a good night and we had a great time.

And it has been too long since the last time we did so. And thus, it was awesome.

In January I hired a local SJSU student to come by 3 afternoons a week to take Ike, Elli and Gwen to the park while Gray napped. Every once in awhile, I left her with the kids and either ran errands or went to appointments (like the dentist!). So, once school started I didn't need her as often anymore. But I did, however, set up specific times for her to come by during the month so that Joe and I could spend some time together. Last night was the first time we went out on this new schedule.

We went to the mall and had dinner (Panda Express for him, Kalamata for me. They had orzo in the Avgolemeno dammit!) and then we went to the first theater movie in 2 years. Cowboys and Aliens is a very silly movie, but good. I enjoyed seeing it. I really enjoyed sitting next to my husband and holding his hand.

After the movie, we hit Cold Stone (The peanut butter perfection is, in fact, quite awesome.) And came home. All was quiet, and Gray was asleep on the couch in the office. We paid A and sent her home. Then I noticed that she'd been busy while we were gone. Not only had she swept up, I think she mopped. But she did, in fact, scrub the table, counters, and stove. Then I noticed she had also scrubbed the cabinets clean. OMG. I love this girl. And I am so tipping her the next time she comes by, she is sooooo worth the money we pay her. She likes my kids and cleans my house. I only hope that I raise my kids to be as thoughtful (okay, and enterprising. Cleaning does equal more money.)

I finally made a connection on part of the reason why my hands are hurting so much, its not the knitting or the computering...its the driving. I'm spending at least 90 minutes a day driving. The other part is that Gray is over 30 lbs. Nursing him is killing my back and hands. I'm in the process of weaning him. I'm trying to confine the activity to our home only, I'm mostly sucessful. I am, however, not nursing him at the kids school. If I end up teaching and have him in my class, I don't want to be nursing him. It annoys him, but he's getting used to it after 2 weeks.

Forgive me Mother for I have sinned. I took thy Worship and made a mockery of it...

Let me set this up.

On the 7th our UU church was visited by the Dustbunnies. I missed their last visit and was sorely vexed as its kineticphoenix , riseorbleed  and dragon_spirit  's Circle? Coven? Group! And they led our staid congregation with the Old Pagan Tent Revival! I had a great time. It was awesome. At one point, Brother Phillip began to tell us their Creation Story. And he mentioned something about "Staring into the endless vortex of time." (Don't actually quote me on that.) Without thinking and without pausing I started to tap out Da, Da, Da, Dum on Joe's leg with my index finger. It only took him three iterations to realize I was tapping out the rhythm of the heartbeat of a Time Lord.

Please give us the applause we deserve because we did NOT make a sound. Not one giggle. Not one snort. Not one little guffaw. Sitting in the back row, Joe and I were rocking and shaking with laughter.

We are such geeks.

Maybe it should be an anniversary present

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