Two Wardrobes

Now that Spring is finally here after many, many, many false starts (snow off and on all darn April) - it is time to pull out the Spring/Summer wardrobe.

Ok, I am a native San Diegan. I had heard of people having a Summer and Winter wardrobe but didn't really fathom the concept of putting clothes away for months at a time. After all, my winter wardrobe consisted of the same sweatshirts, jackets and long sleeved shirts that I wore all year because I worked inside an air conditioned building. Granted, I did have a couple of nice sweaters that I would pull out when the weather dipped into the 50's but that was the extent of it.

We have a lot of clothes! It doesn't seem like we have that many clothes, but once you pull out the bins of capris and short sleeved t-shirts that you haven't seen in six months you realize that you are loaded down. Especially the babies. In order to make sure you have enough clothes for at least three clothing changes a day (accidents happen) you have quite a few clothes. It didn't really sink in until I was pulling out all of the short sleeved shirts, light cotton pants & capris, sundresses and shorts that I realized - my kids have clothes! Two drawers are for summer type clothing and two drawers are for winter type clothing. Plus one for just pajamas and swimsuits. Thank goodness for hand-me-downs.

Does this curtail the desire to go and pick up a new shirt at Costco? Nope. It just makes for one more shirt that will make it into the bin come October.

Mommy Purse

I was thinking the other day that I have a total Mommy purse, as I dumped the contents of it on the kitchen counter in order to find my misplaced debit card.

Not the purse itself, mind you. My purse is a custom, brown leather bucket bag from Maya Moon Designs. I get compliments on it wherever I go.

It is the contents of my purse of which I speak. I was looking at all my purse "stuff" spread out all over the counter and was thinking how nobody could mistake that I was a mom. Some of the contents included:

- 2 jars of baby food
- 4 pacifiers
- 1 diaper
- a baggie with some baby wipes in it
- a baggie with some snacks for Alexis (corn chex, yogurt raisins, craisins, dried blueberries, goldfish...)
- a wallet crammed with receipts from such places as Safeway, Chatterbeans (a kid play place), Carters outlet and the drycleaners.
- no cash whatsoever
- a picture folio filled with pics of my nephews and my kids (at all ages)
- a baby rattle thing to keep Logan occupied on a moments notice
- papers filled with volleyball and basketball game schedules
- Tic Tacs (Alexis and Katya love these)
- an address book (to send holiday cards to loved ones when I remember)
- a calculator that doesn't work (I found that out last night)
- both kids little yellow immunization cards (otherwise I forget to bring them)
- a battered red cell phone
- a checkbook that normally only has one or two checks left in it
- crayons
- pens and a pencil

Prior to the little ones, my purse had things like makeup in it. Or even a small package of cute little tissues to blow my nose and a sunglass case with a little piece of silk to clean them with. HA! Those previously pampered sunglasses just get thrown in now and hope that they make it to the next days wearing without getting too tattered.

There are so many little joys to motherhood, this is just one of them. In just a few years I'll look back and remember pulling out a jar of babyfood instead of my gum and laugh.

New Year's Resolutions

Ok, I am a bit tardy in posting these but I have had them written down for a while.

My cousin, Beth, posted her resolutions for the New Year already. They are darn good ones too. I searched to see if I had posted some for last year, but I came up short. I guess I was too busy having Logan to give it much thought.

So... after much thought here are my resolutions. I hope to be able to compare these to next year like Beth did to see what I actually accomplished. She is a clever girl.

1. Lose my last 15 pounds. I've reached a stalemate with my weight and I want it gone! Time to get serious.

2. Exercise at least four days a week. I'm not putting a time limit or anything, because I will be lucky to fit that in.

3. Get more organized. I used to be the Queen of organization and now I am a mess with piles of papers everywhere.

4. Potty train Alexis. Yikes.

5. Make progress with digging ourselves out of debt.

6. Minimize. Continue on my quest to rid myself of my excess "stuff" via Craigs List, Free Cycle and Goodwill.

7. Make it to San Diego in March, June and December. June and December are for sure, March is the questionable one due to how my Mom takes to chemo.

8. Remember people's birthdays. I updated the family b-day list and now I just need to be more proactive in acknowledging them.

9. Make a positive impact with my new role on the Board of Directors for Campfire. Not sure what that will be yet, but I'm remaining hopeful it will be great.

10. Continue to make my family know how much I love and appreciate all of them. Not only those at my home, but those that live far away.

Dyson

Well, our vacuum finally up and died. Even Bob's old, old vacuum that he had loaned to my Aunt Ginger had died. Well, it didn't TOTALLY die, but it sure wouldn't even vacuum up the fuzz on the carpet. Only, my vacuum up and died like a week ago. Can you imagine my house with the kids and the pets with no vacuum for a week. Yulk.

So....I convinced Bob to stop looking at reviews of vacuums on the internet and just go with me to Target because I was going to buy a vacuum. The rug was totally grossing me out!!

I had taken all I could take and I couldn't take no more!

We spent a good 30 - 45 minutes looking at vacuums. Bob looked at the engineering aspect of all the vacuums. We pulled them all down and took them apart. We debated and haggled with each other. We even got input from two passerby shoppers. And we ended up with .....

a Dyson Animal

I think it looks pretty cool. I like the purple. I think it looks kinda fun although Bob hates it.

Let me tell you... that thing can suck! It better for what it cost. Man, oh man. But it cleans a rug or even my cork floors like nothing ever has. I ran it around just the upstairs bare floors and I was disgusted with how much fine dust that thing managed to pull up. Pet hair is no match for it. And it has some cool wand thing that can do stairs too.

As one passerby customer told us when he saw us with the vacuum - "That thing can suck the chrome off of a bumper". He loves his and he even told us that once he got past the sticker shock, he actually thinks it was worth it.

So, my house is now uber, uber clean. Bob and I kept taking turns vacuuming different things just to see how much junk it picked up. I even got kind of miffed because he dumped my first vacuum load instead of letting me do it. Silly, huh?

If you happen to come over - go ahead and lay on the floor. It is clean, clean, clean.

Elk Lake

Yesterday the chitlin's, Ginger, Danae and I joined my neighbor, Maya at Elk Lake for the afternoon.

I know that I live in a beautiful place. I have the most amazing views right out my windows. But on our way to the lake, I was awe struck by just HOW beautiful the area is about 30 minutes from my house. I couldn't believe it! The last time I saw nature as pretty as that was when I went to Banff in Canada when I was 26 years old.

Elk Lake has a beach side to it that is really, really shallow. There were lots of other mothers there with small children and the kids were all having the best time walking around the water and playing in the sand. Alexis had the best time! She played and played all day and just wore herself out. We are going back on Sunday with Bob to hang for the day.

Evidently we have a ton of lakes and I have now decided that it is my new goal to visit every area of every lake before winter sets in. Even if it means that we just do a bunch of hiking and don't actually go in the water at all.

Hikes With Tykes

Almost every Tuesday for the past month now, Ginger and I have put the babies in some strollers and headed out on different trails around Bend. The Parks and Rec office here offers something for everyone! For those of us that have small children and still want to get some kind of workout, they offer Hikes With Tykes.

We get emailed the starting location of our next hike and we show up at 9am ready to do some walking/hiking. Ginger walks Alexis in our Bob stroller (so aptly named) and I walk Logan in our Phil & Ted's stroller (that one still needs a name). I bring along water, snacks and diapering essentials and we head out following our trusty leader, Mary. The walks are sometimes more interesting or more beautiful than others, but they are always a good walk. The usual hike is walking for an hour, stopping at a park to let the kids burn up some energy, and walking for an hour back. We started out the walking season with only three mile hikes. Our hike yesterday was a bit over 5 miles, but because it was cross country (on dirt and gravel paths), it seemed longer.

Our hike yesterday, although long, was beautiful. It was a trail that ran along the Deschutes River that I didn't know existed. I will definately need to go back there for another hike sometime. But, I think I would prefer to take Logan in the front pack. My arms were sore from pushing that stroller along the gravel path and up some serious incline. Luckily, I had remembered to bring my camera to take some pictures. I am a photo junkie.

I am looking forward to the hike next week. I am learning all the cool places to go for a hike that are stroller friendly in Bend.

Beautiful Spring Day

Yesterday was the most perfect Spring day!

I was up and cleaning the house at 5:30am so I felt so accomplished by the time that Katya came down to eat breakfast before school. We had a nice visit before she took off for school.

Then I got the babies up, dressed and fed and we were out the door by 8:45am. I had joined a Hikes With Tykes class through Bend Park & Rec with my Aunt Ginger so we could do some more interesting walks. Ginger pushes Alexis in one stroller and I push Logan in the other. It was a beautiful walk that included a nice stroll by the river. According to Ginger's pedometer we did about 5 miles.

I felt so good when I got home. Alexis had slept a little bit in the stroller, so when we got home she was wide awake. After the normal diaper changing and feeding of the short ones we went outside and played on the front patio. I put warm water into her water table and sat with Logan and watched Alexis play. She played in the water for a few minutes and then pulled the plug on the bottom. She realized that the water level was going down so she plugged it back up. Then she looked under the table and back at the plug. Then she pulled the plug again and then bent over and watched the rest of the water drain out the bottom and all over the patio. The water fun was short lived. Then while she was on her slide and playing with her ball I decided to put her playhouse together. I got it all together and most of the screws in, but to finish the roof I need someone to push the roof down while I screw it in. At least it is all together so she can play with it.

Alexis played for about two hours before she finally wore herself out enough to take her nap. While she slept, I watered all of my beautiful flowers that have popped up all over the yard. I even have one blooming tulip to enjoy. The rest haven't bloomed and the deer haven't come over for any snacks yet. I bought a bag of Dahlias to put somewhere in the yard and I am trying to figure out where to put them. I enjoy putzing in my yard, it is relaxing.

Unfortunately, my fabulous day was cut short after I picked up Katya from track practice. As we pulled into the driveway steam started pouring out from under the hood of my Durango. My gauges didn't read anything being hot so I just shut the engine off. Coolant poured out of the bottom of my truck all over the driveway. BUMMER! I had some warranty work done last month and evidently it wasn't done too well. AAA had the truck towed to the dealership for repair. So, here I sit at home without any car. Wah!

At least I have beautiful flowers to look at while I am stuck at the house.

Quandry

I have a bit of a quandry on my hands.

A few months ago, Bob did some volunteer work for a private school here in Bend. A new cell tower was constructed very close to their school and they had made it known to the local paper that they were afraid that the RF would somehow hurt the children attending the school. Bob called them and volunteered his time to go out there and do the RF readings on the tower (his prior experience at Qualcomm had come in handy) to let them know how strong they were.

In return, the school mailed us a $100 gift certificate to a local restaurant called Baltazar's.

While visiting with my neighbor a few weeks after receiving the gift certificate she proceeded to tell me how her and her husband went to dinner at that very restaurant. She had taken her four month old baby with them since he was still being nursed. Evidently the wait staff was extremly rude to them and told them that they would have to put the baby on the floor since they didn't have highchairs. They have no intention of every returning to the restaurant.

Then I just received an email from the mother's group that I belong to here in Bend with a woman's account of her experience at the same restaurant. She had a similar experience as my neighbor and she wrote a letter to the manager expressing her dissatisfaction for the rudeness she received there. He called her back and basically told her he didn't like children and he didn't want them in his restaurant. He then told her off with some profanity and hung up on her.

So, I now have this gift certificate for a restaurant owned and operated by a jerk. It isn't just the fact that he doesn't want children there, it is that he was such a jerk to this woman. Now, the demographics of Bend are such that basically everyone that doesn't already have a kid is pregnant or planning on getting pregnant some time soon. This guy has just cut off a huge portion of the dining patrons of Bend.

What do I do? Do I have someone babysit long enough for us to use this gift certificate sans kids knowing the experiences of other people? Do I just not use the gift certificate at all? Do I save it and give it to someone else who doesn't have kids? Do I go in and ask for a the dollar value in cash for the certificate knowing they most likely won't give it to me? I could use some suggestions.

Target

I went to Target yesterday with my sister in law, Debbie. I went not needing anything. The kids and I were merely going to get out of the house and visit with Debbie.

Yeah, right. Why is it you can never leave Target or COSTCO without finding at least 5 things that you need?

First it was the cereal aisle. There was a sale on family size boxes of Honey Bunches of Oats - $2 a box. Killer deal. Then I grabbed a gallon of milk, you always need more milk. Then there were these bags of new yummy rice thingies that Katya loves to have in her lunch and they were on sale. Then I did need a couple of short sleeved t-shirts for Alexis and found some overalls on the clearance rack while I was there. And in the same area was a cheap pack and play that I need for going to people's houses so I don't have to keep dismanteling the one that I have in the living room. Alexis will NOT take a nap unless she is in her crib or a pack and play and it can be frustrating when I am at someone's house visiting.

As we were crossing the back of the store looking for light bulbs for Debbie I saw a sand and water table that I had been talking to Bob about getting for the front porch AND it was $30 cheaper than the one I saw in my One Step Ahead catalog and appeared to be the exact same thing.

Oh yeah, I also got a new bucket and rubber gloves for cleaning the floor. My dog, Thor, chewed up my other bucket.

When we left I filled up the back of my truck with things that I had no intention of buying when I walked into the store. Yikes! That place is dangerous. No wonder I don't go very often and Katya wants to go all the time. They have too much good stuff.

Spring in Central Oregon

Snow flurries...rain...sunshine...wind...hail...cold...cloudy...warm...

That is what the Spring weather in Central Oregon is like. There is a saying here that I hear all the time; "If you don't like the weather here, wait five minutes". It is most definately a true statement.

Yesterday, we had a cold morning (15 degrees at 7am), then some lovely sunshine, then some rain showers, then sushine, then some wind, a nice warm afternoon (in the mid 50's), then some little snow puff balls that feel like styrofoam. Truely bizarre weather. But I must admit, I love it! Spring has always been my favorite season of the year and it is even more so here in Oregon. I always carry a jacket in the car, so I am pretty much prepared for anything Mother Nature decides to give us.

One of the sure fire signs that Spring has sprung is that the bulb flowers start popping up everywhere. Tulips, crocus, snapdragons... all of them. They are my absolute favorite flowers in the whole world. I have about 60 of them currently popping up all over my front lawn. I planted them when I first moved here (since the remodelling kept me out of the house most of the time) and this is the second spring they have bloomed. When they decide to come out of the ground, they go from little nub to a fairly large plant in a matter of a couple of weeks.

I mostly have tulips and daffodils all over my front lawn. I will only be able to enjoy the blooms for maybe a day or two before the deer come over for a snack. I didn't realize that tulips are like chocolate truffels to deer when I planted them in the front lawn. This summer I hope to be able to plant some tulips in the backyard where I know the deer won't go because of the dogs.

Quail love to live in my neighborhood. Soon the babies will be born and there will be dozens of little bitty quail running back and forth across my street. You have to drive really slowly because they like to dart right out in front of a moving car. They are cute, but not too bright. I found a small quail house in my backyard that needs a little repair that I plan on putting in my front yard. I also need to go and buy some dried corn for them. I would love to walk outside and see little baby quail hanging out in my front yard.

Unfortunately, spring also brings Bob his seasonal allergies. The Juniper trees are pollenating right now and those poor beings with allergies are suffering. Runny noses and watering eyes. We heard of a homeopathic remedy that we hope will work for him. Evidently, if you have about a teaspoon of locally pollenated honey it helps your body to build up a tolerance of the blooming vegetation so you don't suffer as much. I am trying to find some so I can buy it for Bob.

Well, I'm very impatiently waiting for the weather to warm up to 40 so I can go for my walk with the kids. It is now 9am and the temp is 25. The sky is a crystal clear blue and the sun is shining. I can't wait to go outside!