John's "Happy Place"

Dear Grammie and Bompa,

Priest Lake 2010

You may have heard that John has been having a difficult time getting to and staying asleep.  We have recently started using some guided imagery techniques to help him relax and feel safe.  This is John's account of his happy place:

We are at Great-Grammie and Bompa's lake.  We are relaxing in the hammock looking up into the trees and into the sky.

John and Logan in the hammock 2008.



The Big Cedars, 2008.

The air feels fresh and smells a little mossy from the trees. We can hear Kitty playing at the beach with Sophie but they aren't playing or laughing too loud so it isn't annoying. 



Sophie and Kitty, 2009.

 

If we look toward the house we see Great-Grammie in the kitchen preparing lunch.  Sometimes we can see her at the window by the sink, or maybe sitting at the island.  We know that Bompa is right where he belongs-- working on his computer in the room where John found the Big Mouth Billy Bass. 

Everything is peaceful and calm.  Everything is right in the world.

Just thought you'd like to know that your house has always been my happy place too!

We love you and miss you!

A random post...again

I was running a little late but needed to stop for my Sonic Happy Hour Route 44oz Dr. Pepper. 

I was speeding down the freeway at over 75 mph when I reached to take a drink of my soda.

All of the sudden the lid popped off and the drink spilled all over my lap and the floor.

The order of my thoughts:
1. MY DRINK!!!  GONE!!!
2. At least it spilled on my thighs and not my-
3. Crap it's flowing under my legs and settling into a puddle at the back of the seat
4. Do I have a change of clothes?
5. I'd better pull over.

I pulled over, climbed over the seats and grabbed a towel from the back.  Wiped up my seat, emptied the floor mat and got back on the road. 

Knowing I would soon arrive at my destination I turned the air to high and opened the windows and sunroof hoping to dry my pants off a little.

(I actually considered taking my pants off to let them dry by hanging them outside the window, but I didn't think I could maneuver to get them off and then back on again).

75 mph with the windows open is a little too gusty and the pants didn't seem to be getting any better.

So I closed the windows and the sunroof.

I moved my head a little to the right and realized I had closed a whole chunk of my hair in the sunroof (remember-- gusty).

I got to the soccer store, took a deep breath, swallowed my pride and went in looking like a harried lady who waited too long to find a restroom. 

No wonder no one wanted to help me.
Try as I might, I will never quite grasp the art of being a "soccer mom".

A day in the life...

Welcome to my world.

1. Find two kids.
2. Find two dogs.
3. Find my shoes.
4. Name the show on the TV.
5. Count the cars.
6. Find my sanity.

What's another word for cracker?

I pride myself in being pretty self-sufficient.  I like being able to fix things, put things together, figure things out-- you get the idea. 

He may not be super organized, he may be a borderline hoarder, he may talk like a sailor, and he may be just a tad bit obsessive-compulsive, but every once in a while Jared impresses me with his hidden talents.

Last night as I finished up the dishes I called to Jared, "I smell gas."  He just laughed and blamed it on the dogs.  "No. Like natural gas."

He asked me to get him a bowl of soapy water and he went out to our gas line and brushed it with the water.  Sure enough, a little bubble began to form and we had pin-pointed the leak. 

I asked him where he learned this technique and he told me it was from his book, Cracker Ingenuity.  What I thought was a tacky book he asked me to send him while he served in Iraq actually turned out to be useful.

I am proud to be associated with my self-proclaimed "cracker" husband.

Some irritants

I've been irritated a lot lately:

• Politians wearing chambray shirts with the wilderness in the background of their commercials.
• People who think they are self confident but their actions show otherwise.
• People who are cheap-- there is a difference between being thrifty and being cheap.
• The fact that Dyson does not sell replacement belts at any stores in Castle Rock.
• Soccer culture
• Parents who wear pajama pants and slippers to pick up their children at 4pm.
• People who don't return your friendly smile.
• Plantar Fasciitus
• People complaining about their self-imposed problems.
• Needy people who crave attention.
• Local news (what else is new?)
• NPR's new weekend schedule
• Annoying Muzak in public places (ie. Michaels, Homegoods, Nordstrom Rack)
• People who get in my personal space while shopping.

It's not you, it's me.

Deja Vu

As I stood in the slowest refreshment line at the movies this afternoon I observed a family in front of me.  The mother was the first to catch my eye, she was massively tall-- almost freakishly tall.  Really, she was like maybe three inches taller than me. And not only was she tall, she was big too.  Not fat, just solid, not unlike Jane Lynch. 

Then I noticed her husband.  He was a full head shorter than his wife.  He wasn't super skinny, just shorter and it jarred me.  Then I saw their 12-13 year old daughter.  She clearly took after her mother-- encroaching on her father's height. The mom wasn't beautiful, in fact, she had hard features and looked a little tired, haggard, and old.  The dad looked like he was trying to stay young with his shorts, shoes, and earring. In fairness, the mom also looked like she was clinging to her youth with peroxide blond hair and tattoos, she just didn't pull it off.  So not only was the wife taller, but she looked markedly older than her husband.

Remember Mark?  I don't like to talk about him much, but he was an old boyfriend that was significantly shorter than me.  I'm not going to lie, the height discrepancy bothered me a lot at first.  I distinctly remember Jaime telling me to "embrace it" or something like that and so I went with it.  We had nearly every class together, we worked at the museum together, we were pretty much inseparable. Eventually I hardly noticed towering over him.

I vividly remember, however, standing in line at Movies 8 in Provo with Mark and realizing what a mismatched couple we made.  I didn't like feeling like the big one in the relationship. 

I wondered what the people behind us in line thought.  Today I found out.

Sooo glad to have dodged that bullet in more ways than one.

Current events

Remember in grade and middle school when you had to cut out articles from the newspaper, summarize them and express your opinion about them?  I wonder, do they do that anymore seeing as newspapers are obsolete...  I hated doing it, but have found myself itching to express my opinion on several of the current events in our world.

Today I would like to talk about the trapped Chilean miners.  I read that there were 33 of them trapped in a room roughly 150 sq feet with a few narrow tunnels below them.  I also read that it is plenty of space for them.  Maybe if you choose to be a miner you don't have issues with personal space.

A few weeks ago they were talking about having the men establish a "clean zone" and a "dirty zone".  The dirty zone is for where the men are supposed to exercise because several of the men are bigger than the escape route will be.  Call me crazy, but if you are going to be trapped in a mine for up to four months I have a feeling you are going to lose weight.  I hardly think a diet is going to help. As a matter of fact, I read today that they are now sending down high protein, high calorie liquid food for them because they have all lost an average of 22 lbs.

Finally, I am sorely disappointed that my most burning question has been avoided in the press-- Where are they going to the bathroom??? I've seen first hand how quickly a port-a-potty fills up with less than 33 people in a week. 

Am I the only person wondering about that?