Our Sunny Sunday

Today was just... beautiful. Perfect and glorious.

The sky was an amazing clear blue, the sun was shining and it was cool... but not cold. Perfect for a t-shirt with a sweatshirt.

By the time I drug my sleepy self out of bed (with a cup of coffee brought to me by my hubby) everyone else in the house was up and going. Katya went to yoga and Bob was itching for a walk so I threw together a picnic lunch, grabbed the dogs and we all headed out to Tumalo for some exploring.

We went to the same spot that Bob had taken Katya for lesson 1 on driving a stick shift. The road was closed, so we had an awesome flat road to walk on with the kids. We meandered on the road until it almost reached the reservoir and then we headed back. Bob estimates that it was about a mile out and a mile back. Awesome first hike with the short ones! They did great! The dogs were so happy to go out and get some exploring in too.

Right about the time we got back to the truck they were famished so we enjoyed a lovely meal of sandwiches, apples, pickles and chips before we pulled out the bikes and let the kids go at it. It didn't work quite as well as we had hoped in the dirt. Once the frustration level got too high we packed it in.

I thought they would be exhausted and ready for a nap but nope... they wanted the park. So off to the park we went! They played for another two hours before they really were fried and we headed home for a rest.

Awesome day, glorious weather, wonderful kids, patient husband... a fabulous way to spend a Sunday.

To Booster Or Not To Booster

Alexis is now four years old. Dang! It seriously was just yesterday when she was born, wasn’t it?

My little firecracker has been growing like a little weed and now I am left with a dilemma: is it time for a booster seat?

When she outgrew her infant seat we bought a Britax carseat (4 actually, 2 per car). Hers has a cool pink cover with flowers and it is super soft to lay her face on when sleeping. It has been awesome. When it is locked into my truck the top is secured to the headrest and the bottom is secured to the car. That puppy ain’t going anywhere. But, she is getting taller and now I am wondering that even though the carseat goes to 60 pounds, should she be moving to a booster seat for the height?

Being neurotic like I am, I found a cool one that was not only recommended by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety as a “Best Bet” but is pink. I personally like Alexis having a girlie seat, it suits her personality and my love for a splash of flair. It is called the Maxi-Cosi Rodi XR and looks pretty cool. The reviews that I have read on it are pretty good too. Granted the other best one on the market is made by Recaro, but it is $350 and only comes in tan and black. Yulk. I’ll probably end up getting those for Bob’s truck and pay for them by selling the other carseats. He was really impressed with the Recaro one when he saw it in someone else’s car.

I have seen several of the “Good Bet” carseats at Target for only $50. Part of me wants to just go with one of those, but the other part is thinking that if they have to stay in a booster seat until they are 8 years old and 4’9”, the booster should be nice, safe and comfy.

Or am I being neurotic?

It was much easier when Katya was little. The rules were not as strict and I was so poor I was happy that I could afford anything at Target for what looked like a good carseat and booster seat.

So, does anyone has comments, suggestions or experiences that they would be willing to share. I’m kinda in a dilemma here.

How Starbucks Saved My Life

Before Christmas I was walking through Barnes and Noble looking at books and writing down titles I wanted to check out from the library (I’m bad that way). On one of the center tables I remember picking up this small green and tan book called “How Starbucks Saved My Life”. I remember thinking what a silly title and I put it down and moved on.

Right before Christmas with the cleaning rush before guests come over to stay I stumbled upon a few boxes of books that my wonderful cousin, Beth, had sent up with me at Thanksgiving when driving home. We are a hard core reading family and we often route books around to other family members to share the love. In this box was that little green and tan book. I figured it was ironic and that I would have to read it now.

Last weekend I was doing some cleaning and thinning out of our “stuff” and I stumbled upon that little book again sitting so lonely on the bookshelf. I was wanting something to read and it seemed like it would take no time at all. It didn’t. It turns out that it was a pretty decent book. Granted, it is written from the perspective of a white, 63 year old man who was raised in privilege in the East Coast. I know that the East Coast has a different way of thinking so I just had to go with him on why he thought the way he did.

In a nutshell, it is the story of a man who had lost his way in life (you’ll have to read it for the details) and then through a chance encounter at a Starbucks Job Fair applied for and got a job at a local Starbucks. Through his time at Starbucks he really learns to live the Starbucks (and his amazing manager) company culture and it helps him become a better man. A happy man who feels more fulfilled in life.

Most of all, I really liked his “3 L’s” so much that I thought I’d share an abbreviated version of them:

1. Leap … with faith: Leap with faith rather than huddle in fear.

2. Look … with respect: Learn to look and see everyone in your day as a welcome guest to be treated with respect.

3. Listen … to your heart to find true happiness: Trusting your own heart is your greatest path to real happiness. Everyone is given a unique path to happiness that is special for each person – we just have to listen to our hearts.

Vision Board

My vision board is in serious need of some vision.

Katya, Bob and I have all watched “The Secret” and at one point last year we all had vision boards with where we wanted to be in life, what we wanted, where we wanted to go…etc. Bob has one at work with business related goals and Katya has one in her room with her life goals. Mine was always kinda small. I only managed to have a list of books to read and a smiley face.

Pretty pathetic.

So, here I am trying to get my personal house in order. I’ve gone to the doctor, I’ve gotten new glasses, I’ve started working out again, I’m cutting down on sugar and eating more fruits and veggies. Now I am working on my vision board and I am finding it hard to put anything up on it. I’ve always struggled with the 5 year plan at work. You know, the “where do you want to be in 5 years” thing.

I have a home, I own a nice car, I have three beautiful children, I’m in a loving marriage to a great guy, I have two dogs and two cats, I have all the “stuff” I think I could ever want. I can’t even think of a car that I would want to replace my Durango with.

When push comes to shove, I do want a finished master bathroom and fireplace. There are other things I suppose I want for the house like a big deck and upgraded kitchen, but those are “nice to haves”.

After watching the Olympics I did realize that I really, really, really want to go to the Olympics and watch an opening or closing ceremony. It wouldn’t even matter what events I watched, I love them all. I’m strange that way. No sports all year and then the Olympics have my full attention.

So, I am sitting here thinking of things to vision about. Being debt free … taking Katya to London … going to Costa Rica with Bob … reading everything on the BBC 100 list (this was Julianne’s idea and I like it) … live more simply and travel more. I guess this is a pretty good start, but I've still gotta work on it.

Meet “The Chief”.

“The Chief” is Katya’s first car. It is a 1987 Jeep Cherokee Chief 4x4. She only cost us $600 and an extra $675 in repairs, but for the money she is a good little car. It has nice tires, is four wheel drive, has a good interior and is a nice mid-sized metal tank. Granted, like many of us, she comes with issues.

Her main issue is her driver’s side door. It not only has a rusted hole in it, it has issues closing. That means when you are driving in the early morning you get a nice cold breeze on your tushy (as I did this morning driving it to the mechanic). But Katya is looking for gainful employment and we will have the local body shop fix that part up soon. Since this is her car, she has to pay for it. There are a few other rust spots on the car, but we will see how much time, money and effort Katya wants to put into making this car pretty.

Life Lesson: Anything worthwhile is going to take effort

The previous owner was one of those people that wasn’t a big believer in maintenance. It has become very apparent that although certain parts of the car are in great shape, he only fixed things as they broke. So when Bob (my hero) spent the entire weekend working on this car with Katya – he found a lot of rust. On the upside, he was able to use his torch to “unfreeze” certain bolts. He had fun doing that. So, Katya can only drive this car as far as AAA will tow it back for free. Thank goodness for AAA and cell phones.

So as of now, “The Chief” has new rear brakes, front brake rotors & pads, rear U joints, gear knob, license plate light and a lot of new fluid and oil. Hopefully she will run without issue for a long time.

Not to mention I hope Katya finds a job so she can pay us back for all this.

Home Gym - Here I Come (Again)

It has been a while since I have taken working out at home as seriously as I did before I moved. Not sure what the deal was. Maybe not having a set schedule for a few years just totally did me in.

It made me complacient.

Throw in a couple of pregnancies, a little boy that just does not like to sleep through the night regularly and you get a bit chubby too.

Soooooooooooooo, I am going back to my old habits. My treadmill was serviced today and it seems to be running awesome. For my belated birthday gift, Bob had gotten me a little tv to post over it because it is so deathly boring walking facing a wall. I had a little tv in my garage in Poway, but it is too fat for the space I've got now. This fancy new little flat screen will be totally cool. AND it has a DVD player in it. I will be doing a LOT of Netflixing of tv shows. It should be the right amount of time to be on the treadmill every morning.

Until my tv eventually gets mounted, I will just be content listening to my IPod for the next few weeks. Katya has really loaded a bunch of new music on our shared ITunes library. It will be quite the adventure to find out what I will be listening to.


But I am not going to lie, this is going to be painful. As in seriously painful. I know I can do it, after all I woke up at 4:30 every morning for almost a year to drive across town to hit the gym and I paid $40 a month. This way, I don't have to drive so dang much, I save some cash and I don't have to haul that gym bag around every day. Let's not even get into the whole changing clothes in front of other people when you are self conscious to begin with.

So, wish me luck. I will be needing it until it becomes habit.

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

I have taken a seriously long hiatus on my blog and for that I apologize.

Inspiration was just not coming to me and life had just taken over.

But as time has gone on, I realize that I really like having a blog. Even if nobody else (other than Laura, Nan and my Mom) read this... that is ok.

So, if you have nothing else to do, then check in from time to time. I'll be updating with my randomness on a more regular basis. :)