Mixed feelings

I've been thinking a lot about our plans for tomorrow & emotionally I'm being pulled in 2 directions.
One one hand I'm excited to visit with friends I haven't' seen in a long time. I miss them so much & cherish any chance to go back home & see them.
But on the other our reason for going is not a happy one.
We will be driving back to Cle Elum for the funeral of our friend David Zapel. (I can use his name now, the family was identified in the local paper so it's ok.) It's going to be hard to say goodbye to him, it's still hard to imagine he's really gone.
It's also going to make for a very long day. It takes about 3 hours to get there & we will be returning home after dinner. I suspect the kids are not going to be fond of this arrangement.
But it's worth it to honor Dave's life & to be there for Becky, Tim, Kyle, Jason & Cory.
Thanks for your prayers, I know they are felt. Becky has been telling everyone of the peace God's given her all this week. Pray that peace continues in the coming days & that the boys feel it also. I know they have many, many hard days ahead.
God bless you all & have a great weekend!

Weekend events

Hey y'all, hope ya had a good & restful labor day weekend.

We went for a brief visit to my sister M, who lives in the tri-cities - about a 2 hour drive South of us. It was a fun time, we arrived Sunday afternoon so M could watch the kids while we went to a party hosted by the foreman on Chris's current job site.

Their house was insane - big, beautiful & perfect for entertaining. We were waaaaay out of our element! They throw a party like this every year & invite co-workers, friends & their kids friends. The booze was flowing freely & a live band was set to play later in the evening.

But back to the house. 3 br 2 ba, huge kitchen with all stainless steel appliances, double oven, ceramic cook top...pretty much anything you could ask for in a kitchen, they had it. The house also had a great room, office, formal dining & living rooms, 2 car garage & a 2 car/RV garage/shop with all the toys big boys want. They had parking for about 100 cars (extended their driveway across the front of the shop & combined with the neighbor.) The patio was flawlessly landscaped with 2 fountains flowing down rocky mounds, a gazebo with a koi pond inhabited by 2 huge koi & beyond that a ginormous lawn.

We had fun but knew few people there. Actually only Chris knew any of them, I didn't know anyone until after we arrived. Bricklayers are an interesting bunch & Chris told me our host (a very charming & friendly guy) has a completely different vocabulary when he's on the job. I got ticked off at one of the guys. Chris really likes working with him & says he makes his kids top priority & all, but he was wearing this shirt. This shirt with a big-breasted-perfect-body model on the back, wearing a barely-there string bikini. Every time he turned around I cringed & what really got me was there were little kids there!!! Maybe I'm judgemental but I don't think that's appropriate attire around children. Luckily I was able to keep my big mouth shut & I was very glad our kids weren't around to see it!

We didn't stay long, just enough to mingle a bit & eat dinner - we aren't into watching a bunch of drunk people try to dance -been there, done that & over it thankyouverymuch!

After we got back to M's house we hung out with her boys & watched a movie. Monday morning M made positively sinful Cinnamon rolls for breakfast - we each had 2 & paid for it with tummy aches later - can't eat that much butter without repercussions! Then M took me over to the salon she works at & cut my hair - we took about 4 inches off & gave me bangs again. I'm not used to it yet but I like it. My hair has been growing for too long & it was time to chop! Next time I'll go shorter...have to take it gradually for the hubby's sake, he's a die-hard long hair lover & does not like change. I'll post a pic in a few days...gatta get the hang of drying & styling again.

The kids were all mad we had to leave, as they always are. They think M hung the moon & have a great time playing with their older cousins & uncle. But once they calmed down we had a nice drive home & got there in plenty of time to get ready for the week ahead.

Chris only has 2 days left at this job site & the next one should be closer to home. Only 1 hour away instead of 2+. He might have some energy left for us at the end of the day - amazing!!

Well, I hope you all had a great weekend...I'll be around to visit everyone later today or tomorrow.

More 'news' & the weekend

Read about a new baggy pants law in Chicago here.
And a drunken practical joke gone up in flames here.
And a couple of dumb crooks getting rudely awakened here.

The Chicago law needs to go nationwide. Although not as prevalent as it used to be, I hate that style. To all those young men out there who wear their pants around their ankles...I get a very strong desire to pants you when I see you. Of course, my style back in HS was to wear holey jeans...extremely holey jeans! My mom was always trying to throw them out & I was always saving them. I had one pair that had no butt anymore, just the seam. I wore boxer shorts under them & they were my favorite jeans (& probably the favorite of all the guys, I had a pretty hot bod back in the day.) I can't believe my mom let me out of the house!

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This weekend was a roller coaster ride full of fighting and fun. Chris & I started arguing almost the minute he got home. Stupid arguments all of them, but passionately stated by both parties. I swear, sometimes I get the picture of a couple of rams fighting when we do this. Just run full tilt & slam into each other, over & over again. We are both so stubborn & very good at miscommunicating. Often we agree on the end result of something but argue about the process. Or if I say something & he takes it the wrong way or vice versa, which happens all the time with us. We can go many rounds with that one. I think he needs to pay more attention to what I said & understand me better & he thinks I need to say it better & think of his reaction more, bla bla bla to infinity.
I lost my mind & totally freaked out as I've done before. Having him gone all week is just very hard on me & I can't do it for long. This was only for 2 weeks but that's all it took. I just feel like everybody wants a piece of me until there is nothing left. All week it's the kids, on the weekend it's Chris & I don't get any time for myself.
I tend to do things a little different while he's gone, just to get through the week & that is hard on him. Having ADD, he needs routine & when I change things he feels left out & gets frustrated. Plus he looks like the bad guy when he gets things back to normal. My changes usually involve letting the kids do stuff they don't normally get to or whatever.
So that was Friday.
On Saturday we argued a bit more in the morning & then went to see The Dark Night This was a big thing, neither of us can remember the last time we got to see a movie in the theatre. And holy cow is it spendy!! The movie was awesome, just as we expected. I was more in the mood for Wall-e after all the hubbub from Friday but we were late for it & The Dark Night worked out better. Heath Ledger's joker was amazing. So creepily funny, the perfect psychopath. I'm just glad I'm not afraid of clowns or anything, that would put you over the edge for sure! For those who have seen it (there are no spoilers here for those who haven't) my favorite moment with the Joker was when he walked out of the hospital & had to click the remote...too funny & that outfit was hilarious! My favorite part of the whole movie was the convict on the boat, that was simply awesome - you know what I'm talking about.
It was a bit sad to watch though, knowing about Heath's death. I can see why he was taking anti anxiety & sleeping medications, becoming that character would be hard to take emotionally. I wonder what his daughter will think of it when she gets older. Will she be proud of his amazing performance or might she resent the film for being part of the reason he died? Only time will tell but obviously I hope it's the former.
After we got home we played with the kids & argued, ate dinner and argued some more.
Sunday we went to church (argued beforehand,) came home & cleaned the house. Chris made up a plan for cleaning that involved all of us & it worked great. I cleaned off the surfaces & dusted, Sam picked up toys, Adah picked up papers & trash, Eli put books away & Chris supervised & did the floors. We went room by room & got most of the house cleaned. I think we are going to make this a regular weekend event. We actually had fun...imagine that!
So overall the weekend was not horrible & not fabulous, just good & bad in it's own special way.
My plan this week is to work on my huge backlog of laundry & start to plan my packing list for next weekend. We have a family reunion coming that I've been looking forward to for a year. More on that in another post though.

Yee-haw, I'm outie-here

I'm taking off in a few minutes for a weekend with the crazy church ladies in Cle Elum & I'm sooooo excited!
I'm sure I'll get some pics for you, someone always has a camera & one lady in particular is notorious for getting those shots you wish she hadn't.
Oh I love them so.
The kids are going to my BFF's house until Chris gets home. He is bummed he won't see me until Sunday (he stayed at my sisters last night) but at least I'm leaving him a crock pot full-o-chicken & a pot of brown rice in the fridge.
Good wifey, good good wifey.
HA! You know better than that don'tcha?

Have a great weekend y'all!