Snow

Snow, snow, snow!

I turn six again every time the first snow falls. Excitement beats at my chest and a giddy little laugh breaks free because the wonder and purity never gets old for me. I watch the beautiful floating ice crystals as they fall and hope, deliciously hope, that they will stick and transform our yard to resemble those winter wonderland postcards.

I watch and watch and watch. I probably wouldn't be like this if our winters were immured in this frozen landscape for month, but we get it only periodically, so it is always fresh and exhilarating.

So we sit with the avid hope that school is cancelled so we can revel in it while it is here. We know that our time with our winter goddess is fleeting. Rustling into our snow gear that has been waiting so very patiently from last year, bundling up tightly against her cool embrace and hustle out to play. Gloriously play. Because that is the beauty of snow, no matter your age.

Disneyland Countdown

It's only 9 more days until we leave for Disneyland and I am surprisingly nervous. I've been to Disneyland twice now, once in 1999 and again in 2006. I had a blast both times, but never felt like I had seen all the park. And with kid(s) both times, it's kind of a swap between experiencing the park and not running them into the ground.

I am hoping this time we can "do" more things. Things that I haven't been able to do before. Such as, visit City Hall, I have never been inside. Eat at a restaurant inside the park, I haven't done that or even ride the Matterhorn. I want to count the number of Mickey heads we can throughout the park. See if we can do a "map" of them while we are there. Also check out the optical illusion when entering the park, it sounds so cool. Plus more things that are special about Disneyland that rushing through just won't accommodate. The kids are older, well some of them, but with 3 1/2 adults (Quinn goes back and forth) that makes it a match up for adults per kid.

Every day with my kids is precious, so much limited time with them, more so with Quinn because she will moving on with her life so soon. I want to bask in it, savour it like delicious chocolate.

We will be staying the Paradise Pier Hotel this time, thanks to Kelly. It is something that I would never do unless I truly had the funds to spend. That has added to my excitement, getting to stay in hotel we really couldn't afford right now, adding all the adventure that comes with Disneyland. Just one more level in our experience.

I've got the passes, hotel vouchers, I've made my lists, planned my attack and now just comes the hard part, getting there.

We will be driving this time. Every other time we have flown, but prices, travel to and from the airport, luggage costs have made it much more expensive and more difficult. So we have rented a 12 passenger van. This will either be a trip from hell down and back or the most memorable time we've had together.

Phone, where the hell is the phone?

The invention of the cordless phone is a beautiful thing, because it allows us the freedom not to be strapped the wall. We can wander in our clearly defined boundary circle of reception around our house doing our chores, going to the bathroom, or just sitting outside that we couldn't do before. Or at least not without 20 feet of cable strewn all over the house, just lying in wait for unsuspecting family members.

But with that freedom comes a exchange of torture. The mad scurrying dance that we make when the phone rings. We hear it, now we have to find it the receiver. Where did we put the phone? Wait, pause, listen, I hear it again, it's over there. Crap, we only have 4 rings the answer it before voicemail (I swear to myself that I will change it to 6), so our scrambling gets more frantic with each ringy-dingy.

Plus, it's guaranteed, not to be in the same location as the last time. Some days, I miss my corded phone.

What have you been doing?

It always cracks me up when someone asks me, "So what have you been doing?", "What's up with you?" or "Anything new in your life?". It stumps me. I do a quick rewind over the last day or more depending on how long it's been since I've seen them and I try to pick out something interesting. Really I do.

But all I can come up with is kids - feeding them, playing with them, yelling at them, driving them, washing their clothes, cleaning up their messes, making their appointments, buying their stuff, organizing their stuff, saving their memories so they can look back on themselves, sifting through their toys, cycling their clothes, and on and on...

I can't imagine that would too interesting to anyone else. I have cute little anecdotes that I could share, if I ever remember them when I want to. Wait, I read this on Facebook...oh, you don't do Facebook. Okay, ummm....TV shows...no you don't watch that.

So, nope, nothing really new. Still same-old-same-old. Do I seem boring? Probably. Is my life boring...hell no.

Footprints on cyberspace

So I just Googled myself and then decided to Bing myself as well. I love that they are now verbs, gives me a little chuckle. :D

This is what I found out that I have left in cyberspace -
* My personal website with Partylite shows up first on Google - Yeah me!
* You can find me in the white pages - if you so desired, like I would be so hard to find..LOL
* I show up in reference in 3 PTA minutes/newsletters
* My picture of one of the tall ships at the Tacoma event in July 2005 published by American City & County
* My connection to my husband in the death of his father.
* My website that I used for Girl Scout cookie sales
* Interestingly enough, a reference I made on Facebook about the police officers that were slain in Tacoma.

All I get in connection to my maiden name is Classmates.com.

It's interesting to see what we leave in our wake in cyberspace, what have you left behind?