Shane & Shana

My daughter, Willow, and son-in-law, Shane, just returned from a week in New York. What is it about NYC that I'm virtually the only person I know who hasn't taken a trip there this year? Guess I'm the gal who always misses the boat. Oh well, remember the Titantic?

Anyway, I have evidence now that Shane & Willow are spending entirely too much time together. Looky here!
Reminds you of how they say people start looking like their dogs after awhile, doesn't it?

Encinitas Chills

AFTON & MADISON IN SUNNY SAN DIEGO


The weather turned this week, and rear ended my plans to go to San Diego---  FAIR!
But the Batmobile (Wayne) left without me Thursday after I had listened to Afton tell me about the day they huddled in the house shivering with the cold (the power was knocked out). She totally confirmed my yellow spine status when she told me that she and Maddy and the dogs had then spent Wednesday night "sleeping" in the car until the power company came at 3 am and checked out a suspected gas leak. This was followed the next morning by a timely ant invasion (the one thing I DON'T miss!)

Oh, not that I can't take a deep chill once in a while (I refused to put on a coat all winter, record snowfall and all, when we moved to Flagstaff, being so in love with the snow after 20 years in Southern California); it's just that my wake up time is now closer to 1 am. So I'm pressed to think how getting up on crutches in the wee hours in a car( without waking those neurotic LOUD chihuahuas) to go find a spot in the yard to pee would be a viable enterprise in LaCosta, should the bad luck scenarios there continue this week. So to spare my CA relations any untoward drama, I'm waiting till the thaw; January has always been my favorite month in San Diego anyway. (And the ants are hereby on official notice to clear out.)

Dolphin Stampede

You gotta love this! Thanks Kathy, for the inspiration from the skies and seas! I just want to watch this over and over, and come home to MY ocean....





Mattie, don't you just LOVE this??

Happy 25th Birthday Torrey!

My baby girl is 25 today! How on earth did she ever get older than I am? Fast living, I guess. She can pack a lot in when she isn't sleeping evidently.

Here's 25 revelations about this one in a trillion girl/woman:

 1) Deep thinker---pulled to ponder philosophy & the meaning of life
 2) Open mind---to new ideas if they build on good foundations
 3) Integrity---tenaciously stands up for/lives her beliefs whenever, wherever
 4) Family centered---in the midst of many, she doesn't get lost--relates to each one
 5) Deeply caring---doesn't know the meaning of superficial, it's all or nothing

 6) Baby nut---a special affinity/"soulmates" with the littlest ones (sheer DNA, sweetie)
 7) Sense of humor---not hysterical joke teller, but outlook on what's funny, ironic
 8) Loyalty---David's Jonathan incarnate(female version), if she loves you
 9) Thoughtfulness---manifests those little things that make a difference
10) Wise---applies knowledge & discipline in life choices, even if difficult
11) Frugal---what's a better word when you grow up in a poor family & have to be?
12) Killer smile---wide as the freeway, dazzling; could be Jane Seymour's daughter?

13) Almond eyes---only brown eyed exotic daughter I own,"just what ethnicity is she??"
14) Competitive---only with her sisters ("No, I'm the favorite Aunt!")
15) Cooperative---especially with her sisters(ketchupdaily.com)
16) Adventurous---going to NEW YORK TODAY! CELEBRATE---DANCE TO THE MUSIC!!!

17) Silly---check out her confessions re: being a dizzy blonde on her blog
18) Reckless driver-Ok, not a +; stop texting & driving and live to 26 (i'm ur mom,k?)

19) Cleans up nice---she gets all the attention anywhere we are, go figure. ahh, beauty
20) Light touch---no ponderous taking herself too seriously, very self effacing-no Center of the Universe attitude
21) Private---shares so much, but is reserved about more, a little old fashioned?
22) Single---I want to find Prince Charming 4 her.... (He needs to cook & clean, love kids---enough to get them breakfast every day, possibly lunch, till Sleeping Beauty awakes; let's see---rich, handsome, kind, and so on.)  Call me, I'll set it up. She's going to KILL me!
23) Gifted Communicator---expresses herself authentically and with a natural flair
24) Loving Daughter---her Dad walks with her still & knows love is forever. She forgives me my faults over & over. What more could you want?
25) Divine Accident---I was done, with half a dozen "blessings", then God sent Torrey, who knew? PRAISE THE LORD!!!! You are breathtakingly beautiful to me, inside and out. Thanks, Angel, for brightening my life.

I love you more,
Mom

Karma...and The Black Hole

I grew up for the most part in one house my Uncle built for us that featured lovely hardwood floors. I have always thought that's as good as it gets, but have only lived in one other home (of nearly 30) with beautiful wood floors since growing up. So you can imagine how jazzed I am about the amazing hardwood floors Jared is installing for me; so much so that I was wondering out loud about "Luck" being involved in this. I confessed to my daughter that I was a tad curious about Karma being in cahoots with Lowe's.

Let me explain. Last spring Jared replaced the carpet in the Casita that Smokey, his docile pit bull, destroyed. It turned out that there was some leftover packs of this new laminate wood floor that he or Jordan promised me for months they'd return. Eventually he told me to sell it for 5 bucks at a garage sale or just toss it in the trash and save him a trip. Time passed, and I became more and more anxious to clean out the garage, so one day I loaded up the trunk of my car and hauled the surplus back to Lowe's myself.

The thing was I had no receipt, and this stymied the customer service girl to no end. She made calls and computer inquiries and finally, after an inordinate amount of time, presented me with a check for over $1200. I almost couldn't speak. It may as well have been $12,000,000! No way the entire floor could have cost that much! So rather than run straight to the bank, I argued. Apparently she had gone through the motions and spent such a long time handling the matter, that the last thing she wanted to do was start over. But we were both determined, aka stubborn, so eventually she had to call the big guns in and a couple managers showed up, irate with me for causing a problem. They buzzed around and fiddled around online and made more phone calls,  Finally 45 minutes later an executive decision was made, and I was handed a refund of around $120, with a large side of disdain.  Customer service, such as it is. 

When I shared this story, and my incidental exasperation, with one of my daughters, I won't share her name but it starts with "W", her reaction was utter disgust... with me!  Stupid old lady--- was her take. I seemed to not rate a lot of points when trying hard to just do the "right" thing.

So I told Jared about this weeks after it happened, and he at first thought it was a dumb move as well; then immediately did an about face and figured it was smart because I was afraid of being caught. Say what?  I hadn't tried to bilk/cheat anyone so that take was very much off my radar. That said, it was becoming obvious to me that not everyone has the same take as I happen to on these kinds of situations.  In fact, this was the third of fourth time I had insisted on being honest with money, and had riled up the troops at more than one store in my few (relatively) short years. Seems like a paradoxical way to be a troublemaker, but so it goes.

Here's the thing though. I thought at some point this just might be an anecdote to throw in at some Family Home Evening lesson down the road to illustrate to the grandkids that honesty is the best policy. Just for the sake of choosing the right, right? Then 6 months later Jared gets this amazing deal on the flooring of my dreams for the main house, and saves about as much money on it--- we're talking pennies on the dollar here, as would have lined my pockets had I taken advantage of Lowe's earlier. I would never even have thought to indulge myself with gorgeous floors in that case anyway, so I end up way happier in the end! Not that I expected any kind of reward in the first place, mind you. But when you think about it, "Karma" can be full of surprises.

EPILOGUE
Shortly afterwards, the Casita was flooded- at the exact moment I fell off ladder and shattered my heel. Not the best day.  The Plumbing company who was re-piping the houses in the area had to pay for the ruined laminate floor. Just last week they accepted Jared's bid and gave me a check for the full amount (originally they had balked and sent out another company to do an estimate, but turns out that was higher). So we saved enough money to cover the new floor and labor for the Casita, so the guys made a little profit, and I'm only out tens of thousands of dollars for the broken foot! Win, win! (Well, especially for the Hospital)


To be sure, a lot of my choices are less than stellar, and sometimes those consequences are apparent in this life, and sometimes they seem to be lurking in the wings of the next life. The seemingly good choices I manage often ironically appear to invite punishment (i.e., said foot). Nevertheless, for one day it kind of feels like living in a fairy tale! Thanks, Karma!

Is that how it works for you?  See if you relate to this little clip:

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You

I have now invaded Adam & Fumiko's home, with virtually no notice, as Jared called on his way home from work last night and said he wanted to rip out the carpet in the Great Room right then. He has today & tomorrow off and is putting in hand scraped hardwood floors for me. He's the man; getting me great deals on one thing or another--- last summer,the hand finished (on site) gorgeous travertine. That was no picnic, but turned out so beautifully. It's getting where I won't want to move anymore! Anyway, I am excited, but definitely needed to be out of the way now with my special needs lifestyle, so I gave 5 minutes notice and sweet Fumiko raced to my rescue. So now I'm rotting over here for a bit.

It's a good thing I have so many kids so I can spread the joy around a little. But who knows when I will wear out my welcome here and there, so I just thought I better warn the world--- with this recovery seeming so dang slow, you never know when out of the blue, I may just end up on your doorstep. BEWARE!!!


J/K

In Self Defense

I have to tell my side of the story quick, before Willow's version appears in her blog. My last night at her house turned out to be eventful, shall we say?

Oh it started out innocently enough, my foot (and I don't say that lightly anymore, believe me.) At dinnertime, all the neighborhood kids had swarmed onto the trampoline, so there was chaos afoot (I can't help myself, forgive me). Hey, I can take it--- I was in the midst of chaos for 30+ years raising my brood, but things moved to the dark side abruptly when 7 year old Carter, from down the block, moseyed on in to the kitchen, and glancing my way, said to Willow, "How old is that woman on the couch?" like he was in the Egyptian mummy section of the Natural History Museum.  

"Well," she returned, "how old do you think?" 

 "A hundred and fifty," he said without equivocation. 

A HUNDRED AND FIFTY! Way to go, Carter. Did I mention I have seen him at least a couple of times a week practically all Fall, and this guesstimate he made from seeing the back of my head on the couch?? My daughter corroborated his insult, naturally. Right then and there, I expected them to start charging the other kids to see the oldest woman in the world. Like I haven't been humiliated enough already.

Okay, so live and let live. Obviously I'm too ancient and feeble to chase them down to allow any other alternative. I suck my thumb, drooling and shaking, and eventually go to sleep, hours later.

Just before 2 am, the phone rings. The phone rings again. The phone rings again and I hear it this time (literally on the couch with me, 3 inches from my good ear) and I listen to the message, something about kids sleepwalking. Weird. The phone rings again, so I answer it and find it's their neighbor, Karen.

 "I got up to go to the bathroom, and heard a kid crying in your backyard. Do the kids sleepwalk?" 

My kids did, so I thought perhaps theirs might, so I told her I'd check. Like any other superhero to the rescue, I fearlessly jumped up on my crutches to save my possibly endangered grandchild! Then, despite being suddenly awakened, I had a flash and remembered the alarm system was on. I turned my Alzheimer's off and capably disarmed the security system. Not having time to gloat with such rare success, I stumbled to the back door. Outside I heard only the clop, clop of my crutches, nothing more.

Satisfied no one was in danger on my watch, I went inside and the Alzheimer's kicked back on with the flick of the light switch and I only remembered I didn't remember how to turn on the alarm again. So I went to Wayne's room, and he was up and clued me in. 

I told him the story and he chimed in with "Last night the police helicopter swept the 4 feet of side yard next to my window. Something must have been up. Then too I saw a cat jump up the granite boulders. Who knows?"

Immediately an email I'd received and forwarded a few days ago jumped into my mind--- all about ways to prevent someone from being attacked/carjacked/raped/killed/whatever. The last tip was about how the new strategy for serial killers/whoever was to play a recording of a crying baby to lure unsuspecting women to open their doors, then WHAMMO! Suddenly the plot thickened. I couldn't wait to explain to Willow and Shane in the morning what had transpired, and thanks to me what had not, during the night.

That was lame. They were aghast--- not at my amazing prowess and undaunted courage in the middle of the night, but at my utter stupidity in disarming the security system and exposing the entire family to the dark powers lurking outside, especially when I myself piped up to remind them of the email alert. 

"Are you kidding?" Willow said in disbelief.

"Listen," I said, "it was clearly implied in that message, that the baby crying would be at the FRONT door. Not to mention people are intimidated by my crutches.... Ace in the hole--- any rapist savvy enough to be in the backyard, would end up running for his life, screaming,"She's A HUNDRED AND FIFTY, for Pete's sake, A HUNDRED AND FIFTY; HELP ME, HELP ME!!!!!!"

I think they think it's time for the OLD girl to get the show on the road. So I moved back home again. No one here better think I'm a day over 45...if they know what's good for them.

Dr. McHottie Rendezvous

9 WEEKS OUT(5 WEEKS POST-OP)

I know this isn't exactly winning an Academy Award and I'm STILL not out of the woods---  driving, not walking--- but I am on my way (maybe in another month) and have so many people to thank for encouragement and support along the way. Whether on a daily basis or a spontaneous moment, each kindness and empathetic word has made a difference. (Willow, especially for being the one to deal with all the blood and pus, and pretend it was no big deal, gracious hospitality, the meals on heels, and forays out into the world.) Thanks everyone for all the patience and goodwill! I think that must be what makes the world go round.

Changes

A couple of years ago, a friend told me he was falling apart. I laughed, and even though we are the same age, insisted that sure wasn't the case for me. In fact, I definitely felt I was getting younger, truth be told, and I was giddy and gloating about it. Things got interesting when I was told over and over I was indeed falling apart as well. Suddenly a T-shirt line commemorating my declining state was theoretically in the works. I was mortally offended and, incensed, roared off into the sunset. Teasing victim? Who knows. But wow--- I've spent time, $, and effort since that New Year's trying to prove a point. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.



With a new New Year's in the wings, I'm finally coming out of denial. So today I changed my philosophy and my blog title to reflect what is more in line with a reality I am coming to accept, if not embrace. I have really learned some amazing things from Neale Donald Walsh's books in the last couple of years, and so feel good about borrowing (above quote--- header, top of page) from him. So falling apart may not be all bad. Just what is. And de facto, at least it means I'm still here! Now, what pieces to pick up???