A Money Making Endeavor

After the Valentine's week from you know where, with Ben eating contraband candy every day, I went into last week thinking things would get better.  Boy was I wrong.  It seemed like Ben decided to eat unapproved food every single day.  Chips from his friend at lunch, someones cookie at recess, on and on.  Not wanting to dwell on the negative, I tried to reinforce the positive. . . with bribery.  On Thursday night I told him that I understood how hard it was to say no to food that tasted good, but that I wanted him to make the healthy choice and say no.  So I made a deal with him that if he brought home whatever it was that he wanted to eat, instead of eating it, I would pay him a dollar.  He got very excited so I thought my plan would work.  And then on Friday, he ate someones chips.  UGH! 

You have to understand that even two chips of the unapproved variety can result in three days worth of bad behavior - especially when it's an every day occurrence.  Ben gets extremely angry and has almost zero frustration tolerance.  Things like homework, brushing his teeth, vision therapy, and any other small instruction can result in a horrible angry mess of a six year old.  And there is no reasoning with him when he's in a rage.  We have learned techniques to deal with his rages, teaching him how to isolate himself when he's in one so he can calm himself down.  Once he's out of it you can talk to him about what happened and try to help him learn from it.  I learned these techniques in this book:  The Explosive Child.  I highly, highly recommend this book to anyone who has a child that rages.  You know who you are. 

So we dealt with his reaction from the chips on Friday, and then on Saturday, and Sunday morning.  By Sunday afternoon he was pretty much back to his good self.  I call that "Fun Ben".  (Instead of "Angry Ben").  Last night after we did some homework together (Darrin and Lia were in another part of the house so we had no distractions), I calmly talked to Ben about him eating unapproved food.  I explained to him that as much as I loved him, I did not like to be around "Angry Ben".  I told him that what he ate at school was his choice, because I wasn't there to watch him.  And I said that if he made bad choices, and ate unapproved food, and "Angry Ben" came out, that I was not going to take "Angry Ben" anywhere with us.  I told him that he would stay home while Darrin, Lia and I went out to do something fun. 

This hurt Ben very much and he actually started to cry.  I told him that I wasn't trying to make him upset, but he needed to understand how bad it was for the rest of us when he decided to eat bad food that makes him angry.  And that we choose not to be around him when he's like that.  Then I told him that he could help me decide what he wanted to have in his lunch, and that if there were any foods he saw his friends eating at school, that he could tell me about them and I would try my best to find or make them in an approved version.  This made him perk up a bit and he said he thought that was a great idea.  I felt like we really had a break through last night and I crossed my fingers and toes that he would make the right choices today. 

When I got home this evening, before I could even get in the door, Ben yelled to me "MOM!  I brought home COOKIES!!!"  And he ran and grabbed a bag of animal cookies that his friend had given him.  He also told me "Mom, I even ate a chip from my friend, but then I remembered and I spit it out RIGHT AWAY!".  The funny thing is, I believe him.  I could just tell that he was telling me the truth.  You can bet I gave him his dollar right away.  I hope this week I get to pay him four more dollars so we can do something fun together this weekend.  It's worth every penny.

Bad Guys Beware

Here's what adults in Wilton do for a fun night out - we go shootin'.  After a spectacular dinner at Silva's Sheldon Inn with our good friends, Shawna and Don, we headed over to The Gun Room.  I have actually never shot a gun in my life, but Darrin and Shawna are both hunters and Don is in law enforcement - so they were all pretty experienced.  We brought with us the 357 Smith & Wesson revolver that I bought Darrin for Christmas and Don brought with them a 40 caliber crazy thing that randomly kicks back shells out the back when you pull the trigger.

I have to say, my aim was darn good for a newbie shooter.  I got within half an inch of where I was aiming.  Of course Don and Darrin were much more precise than that.  This video is Shawna getting a shell in the head while she's shooting the 40.

The best part of the night was getting to wear these old science-lab looking eye protection that Don brought.  I think the vibe I gave off was, I may look nerdy but stay the hell out of my way because I have a gun, and I'm no longer afraid to use it.  

Restricted Access

One of Royal Electric's specialties is airport and airfield construction.  In fact, we're known as the best airport electrical contractor in the western United States.  We started airfield work back in the 80's and by now our crews have worked on hundreds of airports in five different states.  We install the runway and taxiway lights and directional signs that you see when your plane lands, as well as many more things that you wouldn't notice unless you were in our line of work (like manholes, conduit, vault buildings, wind cones, lighted instruments that help the pilots approach the runway and land safely). 


On Thursday I visited our crew in Las Vegas who is currently installing a runway status light system. This is a $6M project in about 6 months.  On this project we also get to use our directional drilling specialty to install the conduits in the runway without having to open trench the entire runway.  Our crew is doing an amazing job and we are right on schedule.  Here are some pictures of their work:

This is my friend Petr who is our foreman on the project.  Petr is the one who is responsible for connecting Darrin and I back in 2000 when we were all working in Fresno on a street project together.  I love this guy and he is an awesome foreman, the most loyal employee we could ask for and a great friend. 

This is how close you get to the planes when you work on a runway.  Here we were waiting to cross this active taxiway that the planes used to get to the runway we didn't have closed.  This picture actually makes the plane look farther away than it really was.  I could actually see the passengers in the windows very clearly.  I felt like waving but decided that would be juvenile.  Mooning them would be downright unprofessional. 

Up With The Sun

One of my favorite things is driving to work early in the morning while it's still dark.  Today I'm doing it to catch a plane to Vegas for the day, but it always reminds me of those days before kids, driving to a job site at 5:30 in the morning, knowing I was up before most people.  Something about getting out while it's dark makes me feel like I control the sunrise, bringing it up for everyone who is still tucked away in their warm bed.  It also excites me because on the job site, you have a whole day of production ahead of you - and in construction you never really know what the day might bring.  I like my schedule now where I don't have to wake up so early, but there are times I really do miss those days and like the occasional reminder of how it used to be.

Crab For The Kids

For the past few years we have joined our friends Scott and Kate for the annual crab feed in support of the Sacramento Children's Home.  This crab feed is always a lot of fun, with a silent auction and live auction, raffle, and the most delicious crab.  Our favorite part is always the live auction where the first items up are cakes for your table to enjoy after dinner.  These cakes usually go from $500 to $1,000, although before the recession I think I remember a chocolate cake going for $5,000!  Since we don't have that kind of cash, I smuggled in chocolate crinkle cookies (total cost about $5). 

Darrin bought me a beautiful Stella & Dot ring in the silent auction - so we weren't totally stingy!  He also placed bets on a patio decoration bird thingy, but that ended up going for over $100 even though it was worth $29, and a tool box that he was also outbid on.  I almost had to knock a lady over to be the last bid on my ring - totally in the spirit of charity.  Can't wait for next year's crab feed!

Our kids were all back at Scott and Kate's house and this is how we found them when we got home. 

The Evil Of Valentine's Day

I had totally planned ahead.  I knew there was a Valentine's Day party in the first grade on Friday the 11th, so I prepared.  I made Ben's favorite peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, ordered approved candy from Indie Candy, and took off work early to attend the party myself.  Mostly, it went according to plan. 

A first grade party is a pretty casual affair.  The kids decorated bags to collect their valentines, they all passed out their V-Day cards with assorted treats, the room parents passed out the brightly colored sugar cookies, cupcakes with neon frosting, fruit punch to wash down the other toxins.  I was so incredibly proud of Ben as he said "No thank you" to all the treats, sorted the unapproved candy out of his bag and gave it to his friend Jacob, and offered peanut butter cookies to the rest of the class.  When the party was over, and Ben knew he still had his daycare party to attend, I asked him if he wanted me to drive him to Mrs. P's, or if he'd prefer to take the bus with his friends.  He decided to take the bus since it was Jacob's first time, so I kissed him goodbye and headed to the grocery store. 

And then it hit me.  Like a serious ton of bricks.  HE WENT ON THE BUS WITH JACOB SO HE COULD EAT THE CANDY!  CRAP!  Sure enough, after my grocery shopping I picked the kids up at daycare and immediately noticed Ben's red ears - a dead giveaway of a reaction.  He admitted to me that he ate valentine fruit snacks, but only one pack.  He promised me he wouldn't do it again.  And then on Tuesday he did it again.  And promised me he wouldn't do it again.  And today he did it again.  UGH!!!  All this trouble that we go through to keep his diet clean and one little piece of candy ruins it all. 

So this whole week we've been dealing with rages, emotional outbursts, not listening, aggravating his sister.  It's so frustrating that I just want to put him in a bubble.  My dilemma is that if I punish him, then he won't admit to me when he's eaten off diet.  If I don't punish him, he will obviously continue the behavior.  I truly am just not sure what to do. 

Granted, things would be SO much worse if we weren't eating right the rest of the time - these rages don't last very long and he can usually calm himself down if we remove him from the situation.  Pre-Feingold they would have lasted all night.  So I guess progress, even without perfection, is still a great thing. 

Our Favorite Spot for Spring

Dillons Beach is by far our most frequented spot during spring and fall.  You never know what kind of weather you're going to get - we've been there in perfect weather in April, sandstorms in May, freezing cold in October.  But this past weekend we got very lucky and had warm days with little wind. 

This was our first trip of the year to Dillons, and I can't believe how much more we can do this year just because the kids are a little older.  We took our bikes with us and rode around the campground - although Lia's training wheels are still a bit prohibitive on gravel roads.  We climbed the tall dune for the second time, and this year Lia made her own way to the top (last year I carried her piggyback the entire way).  We had tons of fun watching the kids roll and race down the dunes, clearly their favorite part of the trip.  And thanks to the beautiful weather, the kids even got to play on the beach and run in and out of a few waves. 

There is so much to do at Dillons that we will continue to go there over and over for many years to come.  Although I think after about two more years I will have accumulated enough sand in my washing machine to build our own beach in the backyard. 

Here are some picts of our trip last weekend:

Princess Strawberry

Last night after dinner I was able to play Strawberry Shortcake with my daughter for about thirty minutes.  This was so special to me for two reasons:

1. I am so happy to be playing anything with Lia that IS NOT DISNEY PRINCESS!!!  Man Disney has the market cornered on little girls.  For the past two years at least, Lia has only wanted to play with those darn princess toys.  Strawberry was a welcome respite from the Disney fantasy world - although she did declare that Plum Pudding (the one with purple hair) was indeed a princess.

2. I was able to take this time with Lia because my husband, who was off work yesterday, did tons of chores around the house so I didn't have to worry about them when I got home.  He folded laundry and cleaned the kitchen in addition to his man-chores of mowing the lawn, building shelving in my kitchen cabinets, changing light bulbs, feeding the chickens.  My love language is totally Acts of Service, and yesterday, my husband told me he loved me.   So this joke on Dooce yesterday cracked me up with its timing:

Q:  Why don't they make a Viagra for Women?
A:  They do, it's called "having someone else unload the dishwasher without being asked to do so"! 

Hahaha, how true is that joke?! 

The V-Day Plan

My dad has always said that Valentine's Day is a "Hallmark Holiday" - made up so people will buy a bunch of greeting cards.  I'll admit, it's not my favorite holiday.  And I think people put WAY too much emphasis on it.  But still, it's nice to have a day to remind you to appreciate your special someone (if you haven't already written a blog post about them). 

Darrin and I decided that instead of fighting the crowds at the local restaurants, we'd make a special dinner for ourselves to enjoy.  Our plan was to feed the kids first - all natural Annie's Mac & Cheese and Ian's Chicken Nuggets - and then put a movie on for them in the game room so we could enjoy a nice quiet dinner. 

Our dinner:  Bacon wrapped Filet Mignon, porcini mushroom risotto, fresh zucchini and squash, and a nice Pinot Noir.  The food turned out beautifully.  Romance was thick in the air.  Or wait, was that actually the smell of Strawberry Shortcake dolls and the sound of Ben doing his reading homework?  Oh right, we're parents.  We have about 15 more years before we can have a romantic dinner at home. 

All the same, I wouldn't trade our evening for the world.

Validation!

About three weeks ago we met with Ben's Developmental Optometrist (OD) to discuss the results of the diagnostic testing they did on Ben.  Sure enough, Ben has serious deficiencies in Visual Memory, Tracking, Binocularity (the ability of the eyes to work together), and Suppression (turning one eye off in favor of the other eye).  Because of Ben's age, Dr. H said that Ben's eyes and visual system are still developing (versus a 7 or 8 year old whose system would already be sort of "set"), and Dr. H recommended we start with an at-home vision therapy program to get the ball rolling.

So for three months we have our workbook and as a whole family, five nights a week for at least 30 minutes, we do our "activities".  Luckily most of these activities are fun for kids.  We figured it couldn't hurt Lia to do them as well, since she is also at the age where her eyes are developing.  Here is the program we are using, although I would not recommend embarking on this journey without the help of an OD.   

The activities include things like:  bean bag toss, walking on a line (good practice for when he's drinking age), gross motor skills, balance, drawing figure 8's, stringing beads, creating things with modeling clay, popping bubbles, and more.  We've been doing them for about three weeks now.

Yesterday I met with Ben's 1st grade teacher, Mr. H, after celebrating Valentine's Day with a bunch of 6 and 7 year olds (hopped up on artificial colors and flavors - gotta love this holiday).  I asked Mr. H if he had noticed any improvement in Ben's reading over the past few weeks.  Remember - Ben's reading was below 1st grade level last time Mr. H and I met in our parent teacher conference. Mr. H said "Absolutely!".

The kids have been doing these "fluency tests" where they get a paragraph, get timed on how many words of the paragraph they can read in one minute (cold read), then they practice that same paragraph all week, and get tested again at the end of the week (hot read).  Mr. H said that before glasses (meaning before we started vision therapy) Ben was getting a 16 on his cold read.  First graders should be at a 40.  These days, Ben is getting a 61 on his cold read!!!!  Did you hear that?!?  A 61!!!  Mr. H decided to test Ben on the end of year fluency test and he scored a 38.  I am so freaking excited about this. 

We've also noticed in the past two weeks that Ben is reading everything.  He reads to his sister at the breakfast table, he reads signs as we drive by, he races through his homework reading, and he even reads now in the bathroom (such a guy thing!).  I am so excited to see what the next few months bring for Ben as we continue to do the therapy.  We haven't yet begun to do the Visual Memory activities, and this is an area in which Ben needs a lot of help. 

Yesterday I bumped into the mom of a girl Ben had in his Kindergarten class.  She asked me how Ben was doing this year - she's always loved him even when he was in trouble all the time in Kinder - and she said "Every time I see him these days he looks really happy!".  I told her about our diet, and about starting vision therapy and she said she was so happy to have bumped into me.  Her 16 year old daughter has the same problems and she wanted to know much more about what we were doing.  Nothing makes me feel better than being able to share our experiences with other moms.  It makes me SO FRUSTRATED to think how many kids are out there with these problems, that are so easily correctable, but teachers and pediatricians - even regular optometrists - don't know about or discuss these vision disorders with parents. 

My informal mission these days is to share this information with as many parents as possible, so their kids can have the success that Ben has had.  Just wait, before long I will be on the lecture circuit.

Here are a couple of pictures from "free play" after last night's vision therapy session:

Can I Lick The Bowl?

For some reason, I ALWAYS have a helper in the kitchen when I bake.  I'm sure it's the quality time that we spend together that keeps her coming back for more. 

Like She's A Good Judge

I stopped watching Oprah a long, long time ago.  But about two or three years ago I watched an episode because one of the mommy-bloggers I follow (Dooce) was going to be a guest.  The episode was about Stay-At-Home-Moms (SAHM's) and what their lives look like.  At one point Oprah said "I've often said that being a SAHM is the toughest job there is".  Offended, I thought to myself, Oprah, you're a nitwit.  As a Work-Outside-the-Home-Mom (WOHM) I do everything a SAHM does, only I also have to fit in a full time job!  I figured at the time that Oprah just couldn't fathom spending that many hours a day with actual children. 

Fast forward to the present.  I have many incredible friends who are SAHM's.  I watch with total envy as we all drop our kids off at school, me in my work clothes, them in their workout clothes.  They discuss what time they'll get together to go walking around the neighborhood, the errands they have to do for the day, what time they have to be back to volunteer in their child's classroom.  Or they have to run home and catch up on laundry, clean the dinner dishes from the night before, vacuum the house before friends come over.  Man, if only I could spend my days like that, instead of cramming those same things into the wee hours of the night while my children are sleeping. 

And yet, I'd like to think that sometimes they look at me with envy - having an excuse to dress up more than once every few months, getting to commute to work in a car BY MYSELF, having adult conversations all day, taking clients to fancy restaurants for lunch, playing in golf tournaments, traveling for meetings and taking advantage of room service, negotiating over dollars instead of video games.  I suppose these are all pretty good trade-offs and it's really just a matter of perspective. 

It made me think to myself that Oprah wasn't totally off base, maybe only halfway.  Because in reality, the "toughest job" title has nothing to do with what you do for a living. 

The toughest job in the world?  MOTHERHOOD.  It will make you crazy.

What I Love About Sundays

On the weekends we always cook up a big breakfast.  Crepes, Oatmeal, Pancakes, French Toast - we have lots of options.  Today we made one of our favorites - homemade waffles!  I think this may be the kids favorite breakfast, so we always make a double batch and freeze the leftovers.  Then we throw them in the toaster during the week to reheat for a quick but delicious breakfast before school.  Darrin and the kids love to top theirs with peanut butter and 100% maple syrup.  Me, I like butter, syrup and maybe a little fruit.  Here's the recipe, which I found here.   

Waffles

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 1/2 cups milk, at room temp

2 egg yolks, at room temp
3 egg whites, at room temp

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

Preheat the waffle iron to medium high heat.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the milk, egg yolks, vanilla and melted butter on low speed.  Whisk the flour mixture in until batter is formed.  Do not over mix the batter.

In a separate bowl, with a hand held electric mixer, whip the 3 egg whites until they just begin to hold a loose peak.  Scatter the sugar over the whites and continue beating until they hold a soft peak.  Gently fold half the whites into the batter in the mixing bowl until well combined with the batter.  Then fold in the remaining whites and mix gently. 

It's a recipe that takes a little time to prepare, but is so delicious and worth the effort.  The nutmeg has a surprisingly strong taste that I love.  I've also used all-spice instead of nutmeg.  Yum!  Coupled with some bacon fresh from Swingles Butcher Shop and our family is happy. 

In our house, I make the batter and my husband makes the waffles.  We work well together.  Plus, he knows that I do NOT like crunchy waffles, and he makes mine perfect every time, while still making firmer waffles for the kids.  IHOP's got nothing on our Sunday breakfast.

Everyone's A Winner

On New Year's Eve, of the incoming 2009, I had two resolutions:  Foster my friendships, and accessorize more.  God must have thought my resolutions were more like a prayer request, because he put a ton of cute jewelry, hats, purses and shoes in my path.  More importantly, he brought people into my life that have made it better in so many ways. 

I have two life long best friends, but one lives in Arizona, and the other lives in Oakland (which may as well be Arizona for how hard it is for us to get together).  The previous five years of my life had been spent in pregnancy or child rearing.  I call those "foggy years" because I was completely absorbed in my children, and ignorant of the world around me.  During that time, the friends that Darrin and I had hung out with prior to having children, were having babies of their own, and we seldom got together anymore.  But with Ben being 4 and Lia being 2, I was ready to start having a little "me time" and had nobody to share it with.  That sounds sad, doesn't it?

That year, God sent my way three very special people:  Jen who has the best advice on relationships and a grasp on living God's way; Kate who had been my friend for a long time but became one of my best friends that year, and Shawna, who has by far been the best part of Ben being in school and sports.  These girls, along with my incredible sister, helped me get out of "the fog" and discover myself again.  I can drink wine with any one of them and completely spill my guts, or listen to them spill theirs, and we can relate to each other.  That relating part is the most important thing, and the reason we all need girlfriends in our lives.

And then, a year ago this month, Shawna started a Bunco group.  Trust me, this is not your mother's Bunco.  Although we are a group of moms (mostly of kids at my son's school) who all live in Wilton, we know how to have a good time.  We put real meaning into the slang term "Drunko".  Usually we will actually play a whole game of dice, but often we only get about half done.  We are so busy laughing, talking about our kids and husbands, complaining about HOA's or the school administration, and drinking wine, that the evening goes by before you know it.  Oh, and we tend to be slightly completely inappropriate at times.

Carla, my 24 year old sister, made fun of me when I first started with my bunco group.  Then about three months in I invited her to be a sub.  They made her a permanent member that night because she fit in so well.  Now she invites her friends to be subs.  I'd like to think that means we're cool. 

Last night Carla and I hosted the February Bunco - which happens to be our group's one year anniversary.  To celebrate (ok, maybe that's just an excuse) we decided to have Bunco on a Friday, with plans to go to the Wrangler after our game was over.  Well, we drank champagne last night (with pomegranate juice, yum!) and we never did roll the dice once.  But we did go to the Wrangler, thanks to our designated driver husbands.  And folks, I'm just not sure Wilton was ready for the likes of us.  In short, we had an amazingly fun, and completely slightly inappropriate time just being with the girls we love.  I wonder how many years it will be before we don't even get the dice out anymore and we just head straight for the wine?

(Since my 2009 resolutions came together so well, it really makes it hard to pick new ones each year.  This year I'm going for an end to the recession and that California becomes a Republican state.)

Here's some pics from last night's "Bunco Game" - at my house (missing Cyndi, Sandy & Candie, but with Kate and Lea as subs), and at the Wrangler writing "Bunco Bitches" on the ceiling.  That was Sarrah's idea, but she couldn't stand on the barstool so I got to do it. 

A Running Start

People often wonder why I'm tired when I arrive at work in the morning.  It's not for lack of a good night's sleep.  It's because of this:

5:00   Darrin's alarm clock sounds
5:15   Darrin gets up, gets dressed, makes a roadie cup of coffee
5:30   Darrin kisses me goodbye and is off to work (total prep time:  15 minutes)

6:00   My alarm clock sounds

6:10   Snooze, just not ready yet.

6:30   Get up, make a cup of coffee, make the bed, open the curtains to see some sunlight, wash face and brush teeth (so glad I showered last night so I don't have to blow dry my hair!).

6:45   Lia comes in my room.  Give her lots of hugs and kisses and cover her up with her blankie on our bedroom couch.  "Mommy I'm hungry."

6:50   Make Lia some toast.  Go wake up Ben, give him lots of hugs and kisses, open his curtains, lay his clothes out on the bed, tell him he needs a bath, start bath water.

7:00   Back to the kitchen to butter Lia's toast, pour a glass of juice.  "Lia, leave the kittens alone and come eat!"

7:05  Back to my bathroom to start curling my hair.  "Mommy, can I have more juice?"  Back to the kitchen to refill the juice.  "BEN, IT'S TIME FOR BATH.  GET IN HERE!"  Go turn off the bath water before it overflows.

7:15  Back to my bathroom to continue curling my hair.  "Mommy!"  "What?!"  "Mommy!"  "What?!"  "Mommy, can I be excused?"  "Yes, Lia, come get dressed!"  Go pick out Lia's clothes.  Open her curtains.  Help her put on her tights and skirt.  Give her hugs and kisses.  "Lia, go get your shoes on."  "BEN, WASH UP, YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES LEFT IN THE BATH!"

7:20  Back to my bathroom to continue curling my hair.  Put on makeup. "Mom, what's for breakfast?"  "What would you like?" "Scrambled eggs and toast!"  Help get Ben get out of bath, dry him off.  Give him lots of hugs and kisses.  "Go get dressed."

7:30  Making Ben's lunch.  Make sandwich, grab some chips, a granola bar, spoon yogurt into a Tupperware.  Napkin and spoon.  Grab a milk from the laundry room fridge.  Start making breakfast.  Slice bread, put in toaster.  Chop ham, grate cheese.  Scramble eggs, salt & pepper.  Cook them all.  "BEN, ARE YOU DRESSED?"  "Yes, Mom"  "Awesome, good job buddy, please get your shoes on."  "LIA, STOP PLAYING WITH THE KITTENS AND GET YOUR SHOES ON!"

7:50  Sit down to breakfast with Ben.  Trixie the dog starts barking uncontrollably while looking out the back door.  OH CRAP!  Forgot the contractor was coming over with the architect to look at the plans for our new patio cover.  Run to bedroom, making sure they aren't standing right outside the sliding glass door with open curtains, run into closet to change out of nightgown and into the day's clothes.  Put on shoes.  Whew.  Go outside to say good morning to them.  Put Trixie out.

8:05  Sit back down to breakfast with Ben.  "Mom, is this all the eggs you made me?"  CRAP!  The dog ate Ben's eggs while we were away from the table.  "Here, Ben, you can have  half of mine."  Finish breakfast.

8:20  Pack up Ben's lunch, his library book, his homework folder into his backpack.  "BEN, LIA, GET YOUR COATS ON!"  "Lia, where the heck are your shoes?!"  Grab my sweater. 

8:25   Make a roadie cup of coffee.  Grab phone, grab dry-cleaning bag, grab work bag.  Feed kittens.  Grab treat for Trixie.  Coerce Trixie into her kennel with treat. "Lia, are your shoes on?"  "Yes, Mommy"  "Oh, your rain boots, okay." 

8:35   In the car, driving to Ben's school.  Get out at the parking lot, walk to the playground, say hi to my mom friends.  Bell rings, give Ben lots of hugs and kisses goodbye, say hello to Ben's teacher, Mr. H., watch Lia hopscotch as we make our way back to the car.

8:50  Drive Lia to Miss P's.  Drop her off.  Give lots of hugs and kisses.  Back in the car. 

8:55  Start driving to work.  Consider stopping for Starbucks or a quick drink at the Wrangler.  Opt to just go straight to work. 

9:20  Arrive at work.  Make a cup of coffee.  RELAX. 

Now you know why I drink decaf.  Imagine how crazy life would be if I was high on caffeine!  Some of you might wonder why I don't prepare some of this the night before?  Well, one day I'll blog about an evening around here.  Then you'll understand. 

Sailing, Takes Me Away

Tonight's blog is absolutely dedicated to my beautiful sister and her boyfriend, Evan.  Tomorrow morning Evan gets deployed for eight months, headed out to sea with the Navy.  Because we're at war, Evan can't tell us where he's going or what his mission will be - whether he's going into danger or going to drink rum in the Caribbean.  I'd like to think it's the latter.

I know many people disagree with our country's fights these days across the globe.  But I hope that everyone appreciates what our enlisted women and men, like Evan, do for every one of us in keeping our way of life safe.  Evan has trained for over a year (maybe two?) for his deployment and will be ready if danger comes calling.  It's certainly not something I would want to do, and I would worry constantly if that's the path my children chose.  But I am so thankful for the Evan's of the world who heed the calling to serve our country. 

Evan, we'll keep an eye on CJ for you while you're gone.  You just keep yourself safe and come home to us in eight months - maybe with a suitcase full of rum.  Now that will be a party!