Summer Plotting

May is almost here, which for me translates into my seasonal job going dormant until next October (?), with the exception of days where I will be covering for others who need vacation days.

SO, here are a few things I wanna do, some specifically during the month of May (since the kids will be in school still), and some for the rest of the summer:

1.  Paint the kids bathroom.  Preferably in teflon or rubber spray paint that can just be hosed down once a week (maybe have Derrick add a drain in the floor so no mop up will be required after the spray down?).  I wanna fix up this bathroom, but sometimes making the kids part of the house cuter feels self-defeating.  They bare much of the responsibility of keeping it clean, and it has become my habit to not look too closely at the results of the kid cleaning process.  If I paint this bathroom, I know I am going to feel more compelled to keep tabs on it, thereby increasing my own work load...  BUT, it needs some love.  And hopefully I will give it some in the month of May.

2.  I need to create and complete some photography projects!!!  I have so many people who've asked me to do family and personal portraits, and I need to get them rounded up and make them happen.  My goal is to be more proactive this whole summer with my photography, and have a lot of fun with it.  I have some awesome ideas for some portraits of my kiddies I wanna do sometime around the end of May when all of the yellow flowers are blooming up Blue Mountain way.

3.  RUN.  Must start doing this again.  I've been neglecting it for too long.

4.  Hang out with my homies!  I wanna do some art projects, especially in May when we still have some quiet momma time.  I want to go to their houses and have them come to mine, and have us all sitting around outside drinking ice tea and lemonade while the kids run around and play.

5.  Plan some camping trips with our friends and families.  Need to get that stuff down on the calender.

6.  Get together with my fellow momma-friends and plan out an awesome summer for all of us with water time, art projects, games, and pure awesomeness.  I want this summer to be all about good memories for all of us.

7.  Start planning out my yard and gardening stuff.  I was so disheartened by my inadvertent murder of all of my seedlings (hundreds of my young green children), that I have not even attempted seeds this year.  But I need to get some cold crop stuff in the ground.  I am thinking lots of kale this year, since I use a lot of it in my green drinks.  I am not even going to bother with tomatoes, as I never ever ever ever am successful with them.  I might attempt parsley and other spices (again for the green drinks)... and maybe some sweet potatoes (?) as I know I will eat those too.  I need to buy a ton of dirt to replace all of the dirt I took out of my flower garden and put into pots last year (pure laziness on my part).  Maybe I should actually enlist some help from my more green-thumbed friends this year for this particular endeavor.

I know there are a lot more things I want to do, but that is all I can think of at the moment:)

Cracked

I Can Not Imagine

Reading about the Boston Marathon bombing is almost more than I can handle.  I read about the mom who lost her 8 year old son, while her 6 year old daughter and herself were also injured, and of course I identify with her.  I can not imagine such a loss, and I cannot imagine how I would survive the feelings of absolute hatred of whoever did such a thing.  My mind boggles.

As a mother, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't struggle with the fragility of human life.  There is no safe place in this world, doesn't matter if it is school, the workplace, a mall, or even a marathon.

As a runner, I know that feeling when nearly crossing the line and I know the appreciation I have felt in the past for the people who have supported me during my run.  I know the joy I had at having my children there to witness me do something that I've trained for and accomplished.  I just can't imagine something so evil happening at a moment like that.

I know the reasons for the wickedness in the world.  I know why there are critical times hard to deal with.  I am hopeful for the future.  But my heart aches for the world's present.

Mexico. Alls Well that Ends Well.

We got home from Mexico last Friday afternoon (it is now Tuesday afternoon).  By last Wednesday the little chest cold I had mentioned had blossomed into something... more.  As in a flaming sore throat, burning ears, throbbing head, and the absence of the will to go on living.

The day before had actually been a great day on the beach for all of us.  We had all swam out in the ocean, ate Mexican food under giant umbrellas while surrounded by hundreds of voices we couldn't understand.  The kids had wandered down the beach with their grandparents to find bigger waves to jump in.  Derrick and I alternated between laying in the sun and sitting in the shade, somewhat peacefully.  I couldn't help worry out loud to Derrick that most likely Dave and Kathrine were lying unconscious on the beach somewhere while the kids had most likely been kidnapped.  I was patiently awaiting a phone call from their abductors, when I finally spotted them walking back our direction.  The kids were beat from playing so hard, and by then I was beginning to understand that my little cold was morphing into something bigger.

We left our little vista by the sea the next day, and after stopping in town for lunch (I laid down in the truck and napped), we headed back to Guzman.  I crawled into bed at that point, but the kids got to hang out with their grandparents for the rest of the day.  We had planned on going to the big market in Guadalajara the next day before going to the airport, and I woke up planning on being tough for the sake of shopping, but Dave ended up getting horrible food poisoning the night before and needed a bit of extra time to recoupe before heading out.  Kloe said she didn't feel so great either, so I tucked away a plastic bag and paper towels into my back pack just in case.  These items came in handy the first time she threw up on the plane, but the second time (while we were landing) happened so unexpectedly that I didn't get the bag out in time.  Ah, memories.

Fortunately, we had a layover in Houston so we had some recovery time before our next two flights.  By the next day Kloe was feeling much better, and I felt like begging someone to please PLEASE just carry me through the airports.  When I found out they had changed our flight gate in Denver from 52 to 92 I almost laid down in the middle of the airport and said GAME OVER MAN.  For once Kloe was pulling me along and making sure I didn't get lost instead of vice versa.

When we finally made it home, I fell into bed and didn't get up for two and a half days.  I laughably tried to go to work yesterday morning, but left after a half hour and went to the doctor where I was diagnosed with bronchitis and two ear infections.  And then there were antibiotics.  And soon I am predicting wellness and a happy ending.

Ocean news

Both mornings we've here, we've woke up to a heavy mist hanging over the ocean.  The humidity is very high, so it's always a bit sticky, but my skin! Oh, how it has soaked up the moisture and became all I hoped it could be, even if for only a few days!

We went to the Santiago beach yesterday.  It is spring break for Mexico too, so there were hundreds of other families there too.  it wasn't the wide open beaches we experienced last time we were here (was it five years ago sometime in february?) But it was still fun- great for people watching.

So, for now we are waiting for this mist to burn off, the breeze to stop, and for it to heat up about ten more degrees, and then hopefully to the beach we'll go again.

Learning Spanish....

Mexicana time

We are on day four of our trip down to mexico. We spent friday through saturday in guzman, and now we are in a vista overlooking the ocean in monzanillo. We spent our time in guzman hanging out at dave, kathrine, and peggys house.They live in a pretty big house, especially by mexican standards, right across from an orphanage and very close to a bus stop. Needless to say, there is always a lot of activity out on the streets (they live on a corner, so its a bit surrounded by people coming and going. Great if you are into people watching, which I am).Their house is has a small yard with lots of tall happy healthy plants. Gramma peggy has been having a great time growing pretty much whatever she can get her hands on. Peggy looks fabulous. Since going to mexico she has lost weight without even really trying, made lots of friends, and she looks happier than I've ever seen her. It was nice to see that:)

Anyways, the whole house and yard has a tall pointy fence (ornate and pretty, but capable of skewering a climber-would-be) around it. It's actually great, because as much as mexico has seemed to help the health and mental disposition of all who moved there, it still poses some big dangers, such as being kidnapped for ransom. So, the fence is a good thing. Now, most people would look at the top of that fence and think climbing it would be a bad idea, as the pointiness is communicating that very idea. My daughter, however, decided to laugh at danger, climb the fence, and straddle the tall wood post the first day we were there. Guess she wanted to pose a fearless disposition to all mexico that first day, and indeed i saw plenty of spectators on both corner streets when I finally came out and saw what she was up to (peggy has casually told me kloe was outside climbing the fence, but it had been 2 in the morning when we had got there the night before, and pitch dark, so I missed the insinuated implication that kloe was out there toying with death). All the watchers were pretty quiet, all the better to not miss the crazy little white girl either falling to the sidewalk and breaking, or more likely falling toward the points and getting skewered. My first inclination was to run at her screaming GET OFF OF THERE, but instead I found myself talking calmly and quietly like you might do to a person ready to jump from a tall building. "Kloe dear, please (whispered:for the love if god) get down from that fence."- all said in soothing mr. Rogers tones. I wanted to help , but she insisted on scrambling over the points like a suicidal monkey, and after a few heart stopping moments, jumping to the ground.  To keep from killing her myself at that point, I maintained my mr. Rogers persona, and gently told her to never ever do that again.

So, that was first thing after coffee on the first day. After that, we mostly hung out and met quite a few of their new friends from their congregation. That friday we met Lucy, herlindo and their 9 year old daughter casia. Kloe and casia hit it off immediately.Lucy said after they got home, casia pined for kloe and missed her until they met again the next day at meeting. It was such an anne of green gables situation. others we met (and I'm writing this for the sake of my memory) were armina and her three children tamara, samantha and oscar (her husband oscar sr. Was sick, but we are having dinner with them on weds so we'll meet then), and tonya and her husband danela.  Jasa's parents were also there, and also the bargases.

We left there yesterday (sunday), and drove to monzanillo where we rented the vista I mentioned at first. There is a pool here, which the kids have been in almost constantly since we've been here. They did pause briefly to go knock a coconut out if a tree and then drop it from the top floor to see it shatter below, but then it was back to the pool. They are taking a nap right now- first time I've made them do that in a long time, but they've already about worn themselves out, and we still want to drive to the ocean to play there today.

My only complaint so far is that I am trying to get sick- some sort of chest cold and headache.  I am not really surprised- while my mind loves travel and experiencing new things, my body has many times told me to KNOCK THAT CRAP OFF AND STAY HOME- that was my body typing in all caps.  Rude!  Anyways, I'm fighting it with the tools I have- ibuprofen and hydration.  

I'm writing this with my phone in mexico... both have a way of making my blog publish weirdly.  Let's see what this looks like...