Talk about up and running

This just in..  Greg and Willow are signed up for the Big Sur Half Marathon in a few months. Its training time!

P.S.

It dawned on me as sleep settled in last night that I forgot to mention a few other notable items. First off Greg is enrolling back in school and is pursuing an MBA. Which is pretty awesome.

In other news, I cut my hair all off. Well not all off. Willow says I look like my mom. Which the resemblance is there. However, when I look in the mirror I can't help but see Barry Manlow hair and immediately start singing "Mandy."It should not surprise that Ive started avoiding mirrors. :-P

And off to school we go..

Boss with the hot sauce

Its been three weeks since my last post. And at this pace it has been three extremely long weeks. What pace is that? Well.. Its 10:30 pm. The house is locked down and the kids are tucked in and asleep.The alarm clock emits this low intermittent beeping static-y buzz heard just at the threshold of hearing. It is as though the alarm is anticipating the hour of awaking and is practicing its morning song... quietly and under is breath.   Its rather annoying. Anyway, I am wired and sleep eludes me at the moment. I suspect it will elude me for quite a few more moments... especially if this alarm clock business keeps up. I was up at 5:30, got the kids up and ready, made breakfast, attended to the feeding and watering of the animals and at 7 was on the way to drop off Willow at the bus stop some 7 miles away. Then Con and I hit the books for a good solid 5 hours before setting off for chores out on the peninsula. A trip to the bank, the phone store, and a stop in to get Con's allergy shots all planned out to be done in time to be back at Moss to pick willow up on the way home should only take 4 hours including drive time. But we didn't manage to get the shots in. AT&T took 1.5 hours because of a system glitch on my account. It was a hassle and a pain but in the end I walked out with an upgrade to an HTC. Back to my phone roots. I really never took to the Iphone which seemed so temperamental. For 6 months it stopped ringing entirely (and not due to lack of people calling). Anyway, yes I need to re-learn how to use it but I am happy to be back.  However another trip out will have to be planned for the shots. And while I was tied up, Connor was able to get in a much needed two hour nap. He is about to have a substantial growth spurt as well as fighting the allergies. Grass is blooming and he and I both are fighting the seasonal fatigue. Anyway, After we grabbed Willow, I got the laundry started, Got dinner going. Got willow off to her part time job caring for one of the neighbors animals... goats, and indoor pig, a couple of extremely playful and energetic pups, some fish and a tortoise. The job is sporadic and she is needed only when the couples fire fighting schedules coincide. (On a side note, all around we have wonderful neighbors. From the figherfighters ...The wife grew up on the Isle of Man and has the cutest accent. She also has a stand up bass!! .. to the lovely woman who works with the state on ag management and is from ogden. There is also a japanese woman with pygmy goats and her house partner from Ireland who prefers his horses. And there are more but I digress..) Instructed Connor on the completion of dinner and was off until 9 at the HS for orientation. Whewee. And most days hold similar if not quite as long. We've all been running but are not yet hyperventilating.  

Willows school is fantastic and is utterly worth the distance and price. Classes have 15 to 20 students and utilize the most up to date technologies. This of course has meant that I have had to find another means of internet connection. One textbook download used 8Gb of our alotted 10.

After surveying the neighbors I finally found a service that works here. OMG! WE CAN STREAM!! Hughes net was like being locked in sensory deprivation  chamber for the last year or so. Quite disconnected from the world. And now.. Music! News! Education!! Download Books!! Where to begin?

Anyway,  she has also taken to the stride excellently. Being a college prep it means she has at least 2 hours of homework every night from the first day. She has jumped in, shown every initiative and is pulling all As at the moment. The use of technology at this school offers no excuse for knowing where you (Or your child) stand on grades and assignments. She makes her mother proud. I know it is subject to change, but if you were to ask her right now what she wants to be and where she wants to go to college, she will tell you she wants to be a bio-medical engineer and graduate from Johns Hopkins. This is defiantly the school to help get her there. In other Willow related news.. the braces will be coming off and she will be transitioning to contacts within a few months. Gosh.

Connors school didn't get off to such a quick start. but it has been been picking up speed and we are now taking things in a good pace. Testing shows that over the past six months his reading has gone from an early 5th grade level up to a 7th grade level. The author of Percy Jackson deserves kudos! As far as how this independent study charter works.. Three days a week he studies at home and two days a week (Starting next week) he is a classroom setting. It offers a nice balance and he is fully on board and has embraced the direction we are taking him in. I think it will be a good fit.

Thats where we are at on a general daily basis. The buying a house situation.. well.. when last I wrote we just got word of a "Hiccup" with the appraisal. The house came in 88K low. We tried to re-negotiate but were unable to make a deal and walked away. So the search for our next home continues. Last week we pursued a rent to own option on a gorgeous property but it was quite a jump in monthly cost which would stretch us much too thin. I want our quality of life to not be tied to entirely to a home. If I am paying so much that we can not afford to leave the house or have hobbies (no mater how beautiful or grand) well it no longer a beautiful home. It is also a prison. So we are still looking.

In the last 4 weeks I have packed the house up almost entirely, Thought I was buying a house, Watched the roommates move out, Lost the house purchase..Shifted Connor from the far corner of the house where his little nervous soul felt so isolated to the room across the hall leaving Willow almost an entire 1400 sf to herself. (after sharing much closer quarters for so long she is feeling quite disoriented.) Unpacked the kitchen, Unpacked the office, Continued to search for moving options, refinanced the car, Switched internet carriers as well as cell phone carriers.  Started school and have attended 5 separate school events. Let Willow and Greg pick up the farm culling duties. Willow didn't mind the process, was intrigued by the gizzard, but did not care for the smell. Watched apples develop on a tree, on which, despite giving it proper water and care, I didn't expect to produce. Saw a goose disappear without a trace. Took 4  full truck loads of stuff to the thrift store or dump. Applied a level of punishment on Connor he has never witnessed or experienced before and I know he won't likely be ready to repeat his mistake again. We also had a long term plumbing problem finally resolved and an occasional luxurious bath can now be had.

A quick glance at the clock shows that it is already midnight. And between sitting quietly at the keyboard and this now empty glass of wine,  I have finally relaxed enough to get to a little bit of sleep before galloping at full stride tomorrow.. at least until Greg returns from Montreal and we can hopefully enjoy a long and relatively uneventful weekend with some time spent with friends and neighbors.

Keeping pace..

Funny that an old blog post of mine recently popped up in my mailbox. Why and how I can only guess. But it gave a little tickle none the less. And so with that strange invitation I sat down to re-read "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" from last September. It gave me a chance to examine the long strides and the meandering course of life between those points. So much different, so much the same. For instance the culling thing got old. And I really don't care to do it. There are smells and stomach curling ick... and well... I know I can do it if I need to and that is something important to know about oneself, I suppose. Plus in order to really be proficient you need to build a kill station with running water and well I think I will leave that to the professionals. So anyway, yes some has changed. And some not so much as the aim for this years schooling landed pretty much on bulls eye. And then there are the big totally unexpected changes between. Buying a house was no where on my radar. So that was a huge directional shift.  One that is gaining speed on us.

The appraisal was last Wednesday and we have not yet heard back and only one or two small details need to be attended to Monday to finish our closing documents. House is well under the whirlwind preparations of boxing and packing,  moving out the roommates, and general cleaning. Things are a bit of a mess but it is and will go smoothly.

Anticipation for the start of school is beginning to pepper the air. Two weeks to go. Time to break out the alarms and begin to reset our sleep schedules back by half hour increments every few days.

Looking back.. good times.. looking forward.. Whew!.. I will be tearing through this month like a.....



(Dramatic pause of a few days..)

And I return.. that last toon I picked up at a birthday party with one of the old neighbor kids. There is a part that sounds Halloween which caught my attention. (Side note.. Mrs. Davis.. your son has fun taste in music). It was a highlight on a rather dreary day. A day where losses where counted and an old friend, Ozzy, was buried.  Anyway, the tune was a highlight along with just sitting back and observing how much the kids have grown in the last year.

And the word just in on the appraisal on the appraisal.. Umm.. we have hiccup.  Let me get back when we figure this out.

We once drank from the wine of youth

We have had some interesting events happen here.. Im not sure if I need to call it a theft or if I call it weird animal nature... About three weeks ago, Greg realized that we didn't have any white eggs being laid in our coop anymore. That was just about the time I realized that our 3 white laying hens had transformed into 3 adolescents and 2 of them are roosters. As they roam I can't say that some some flock changing didn't occur .. but it is weird.

And while Im on the topic of weird.. This was seen in Monterey while we were driving. Willow snapped the pic. The guy was getting on a bus. 

And speaking of oddities seen in transport... Only in Reno.. will you see a VERY hefty couple on a scooter with a 5 year old riding the tank. Is that legal? The bulk on the bike weighed down the engine substantially and so they were putting along in the bicycle lane.

What? Reno? I was in Reno again? Yes. For one night only.  My long time friend D. called frantic. Lots of big gloomy events had been clustering around her .. In a matter of 6 days.. 10 deaths within the families of her inner circle... Her office flooded (It was the only one) due to unusually intense thunderstorms. A tree in her backyard was struck by lightning. A coworker slipped at the grocery story hit his head and went into a coma. And she had several projects with major approaching deadlines underway. I in the meantime was struggling with something big and immediate that she could help me with.. so when she unexpectedly called Friday morning.. well the timing could not have been more perfect.. and within a few hours I was on the road. I arrived at two and proceeded to help her until the janitors kicked us out of the school district offices at 10:30. That place is haunted. Seriously. By an electrician who died there.

 Anyway, it was really hot and muggy and I am hoping I don't have make another trip to the desert again this summer... although for D Id do it a heartbeat.

After work we picked up a bottle of wine, some cheese and crackers and went to her place for something akin to dinner and when her boyfriend came literally stumbling in at midnight we played a game of badminton in the dark. Nobody won that game.

 It had been a long day and so we all turned in although the heat was not conducive to any kind of serious rest. And after tossing and turning at 5:30 I was up and on the road home and D was back to the office. She made her deadlines and I made it home and made my deadlines as well. We were "Under the Gun" but neither of us got shot. It was a good day. (I hear Ice T playing on the soundtrack of my mind and I giggle)

P.S. We got the house after a bid war. Its moving fast. Faster than typical. Its a flip and the bank wants out ASAP. This week inspections. If all goes well.. We will have the keys soon. School starts the 14th. Hot Damn. I got stuff to do.

Home again! .. Home again? Jigagy jig

Just Returned from 8 day spent nestled  among the towering pines that thrust majestically and defiantly from the rocky slopes of the sierras. 

The sites at plasses resort at silver lake are packed rather tight together. So the Fourth of July it was truly overpacked and crowded. It was noisy. The Nevada yahoos in the next site over where constantly hollering at their many dogs from which I gathered that Halo and Vicky where the worst offenders. Seriously those were thier names. Anyway.. Transitioning from the temperate coast  to such radically swinging highs and lows in temperature plus adding so much elevation was enough to knock me reeling for a bit while I adjusted.  It took a good three days.. Just in time for the crowds to melt away.. For me to switch from getting settled to becoming relaxed.  That initial transition would have been much harder still, if not for good friends and warm sleeping bags.  Two sites over.. Just passed the hollering and cussing and revelry exhibited by the forementioned yahoos..  camped Terri, Adam and family for the night. We shared meals, conversation, s'mores and the like before turning in for what was perhaps one of the most uncomfortable nights ever. One that left me weepy with over exhaustion. Our sleeping bags were too thin. I knew they were and brought supplemental blankets. But we were also using cots for the first time and I had not considered that there would be no insulation from underneath. Simply stated we froze. Fortunately, with Terri and Adams departure we were gifted some marvilous sleeping bags for a night before heading into cc  for a little family birthday party celebration. While there we returned the borrowed bedding and picked up our own. Once I managed a few good nights sleep my recovery was  eminent!

Other than our quick jont down to the city and the kids staying a night with mom, we pretty much spent our time around the lake and camp site, swimming, canoeing, hiking, playing board games (settlers of catan being the game of choice for all!) fishing, kicking the soccer ball, spiking the volleyball, throwing some shoes, drawing, napping and reading. It turns out that ,although active, our play was far more leisurely than I had anticipated as our oldest member had a difficult time keeping up and sad puppy dog eyes begged for more time lounging around. Well splash is now going on twelve (84 human equivelant) so we took it easier for him. 

I mentioned a canoe.. While we were there some friends whom we had met at school last year, stopped by for a visit and a beer. They have a cabin not to far and were there at the time. They left us thier canoe to play with. As has never happened before we packed up and brought home more than we took with us to begin with!  

After all we Returned dirty, grimy and smelling of campfire. Returned rested and refreshed yet somewhat battered and broken (bruises from adventures and perhaps a fractured hand bone or two of Greg's from our play) Returned ready to.. hit the ground running.. Change.. Nothing stays the same.. (Had to musically interject there).. Anyway.. Unloaded.. Unpacked.. Cleaned up.. Caught up... Almost..

Doing loads and loads of laundry 

at the moment.

A link to the pictures to come in a day or so.. When I'm not sitting at the laundromat or running willow to school to pick up things for next year.. Or.. Or.. Or.. It will be soon. 

And that's not all my news. Really. There is more. While we were gone a house came on the market less than a mile from Greg's work and even closer to willows bus stop. We looked at it immediately upon our return and put in an offer yesterday. It already had received one and the owners are looking them over tonight. We should know which they will accept by Thursday.  Fingers crossed. It's not in the sunny city but .. Eh.. After a little over a week battling the elements.. And getting in a huge dose of vitamin D.. I can deal with that.. As long as it has a tub and a non satellite internet connection..  Fingers crossed! 

Sun sun sun.. Here we come

Both because hot temps and cold alpine waters are not that far around the bend.. IDetails afterwards but preparations underway... 

And also because, we have been house hurting in a much sunnier though very close city. Yes. City. To be able to take a bath again.. We currently have a huge jacuzzi tub but our septic system is taxed by normal activities and sits there taunting me daily.  And To have an unlimited stream! Such luxuries! Not to mention less driving to the store. And to get Out of the ongoing gloom. Trade in continual cold coastal breeze and fatique inducing fog for the toasty healing rays of the sun and the hustle and bustle of life... Even if warming up a bit means a greater chance at being caught in crossfire.  Yes. I can handle moving back the city...  Or rather the fringe. Ain't no shame in Laying low on the upper west side.   

And until all this plays out.. Well .. we are keeping all sorts of busy and bored in equal measure. The parents are busy .. the kids are bored. Must be summer!