Thursday, February 6, 2014

My Brains Are Absent, Really!

Today I Brynne and I made the drive to Oakland to meet with a team of doctors that regularly treat Mito patients.  It's awesome.  We go into one room and then a series of specialists come in to see us. They note any changes or progression of symptoms and answer questions. They offer advise and any possible assistance.  I love having a great team of doctors ready to assist at any time as we move along this unknown journey of having a child with mito.
I took this picture because I remembered taking one just like it almost two years ago when we last met with the team.  I actually spent a lot of my drive thinking about the last two years between these doctor visits and considering all of the changes that have taken place in such a short time.  I never would have guessed at some of the twists and turns that have come about. 
But it also reminded me of  the adventure Brynne and I had on the way home from this visit last time.  Brynnes pants that disappeared into the wind unbeknownst to me while I was talking Brynne through relieving herself on the side of an empty highway in case of an emergency.  The panic I felt upon realizing the pants and underwear were gone contrasted greatly to Brynne's carefree little self doing a headstand on the back seat of the car, crossing and uncrossing her legs singing about having no pants while wearing only a t shirt.  Ahh yes, what sweet relief it was to find the pants 200 yards ahead of us after I had completely given up hope of finding them.  Today's trip was blessedly uneventful.
Upon returning home I found mail addressed to Jeni Hurd.  You can always tell that I go way back with someone if they call me Jeni.  Jeni is the girl who grew up in Woodland.  Jeni is what my grandparents, a few aunts and uncles and a couple of cousins still call me.  Jeni is who I am to anyone who knew me from the time I was born until my senior year in high school.  I moved just a few weeks before my senior year.  The friends I made in Clovis already had a Jenni and a Jennifer, so I became Jen and never looked back.  For someone to call me Jeni who didn't know me then, it almost comes across as just cute or a term of endearment not my name...is that weird?  Anyway that piece of mail sent me quickly down a different path of Memory Lane.
And what was inside, brought me down yet another.  My high school 20 year reunion is this August.  How in the heck did that happen.  That's a lot of years.  Where did they go? How did that happen so fast?  What I have done in the last 20 years?  Am I where i thought I would be?  Am I who I thought I would be?  It made me feel a little old, but not in a bad way.  It's one of the first times I can remember where I actually felt like a grown up and not Jeni still in high school.  So often I feel like I am still young, just a kid, making it all up as I go, faking it til I make it, you know?  But today I just felt like a grown up. Owning the last 20 years that have taken me down paths I never could have possibly imagined for myself.  
Instead of dwelling on any of it for too long I just got to work on a few projects that I have been really needing to get to. No matter that it was raining, I had been gone and stuck in the car for so many hours I just needed a little productivity.  I cleaned and scrubbed off the upstairs patio, swept and hosed off the front porch and walkways, and then I filled 5 wheelbarrows of dirt from the side yard, spread it all along the back fence and then covered the side yard with wood chips. I'm several bags short, so Home Depot will be seeing more of me in the next couple of days. I ended up tossing a few sand bags across the fence so Shelby won't dig underneath the fence and get out.  I cleaned up her dog house and dragged it over to the side yard/ dog run as well. The crazy thing is that I did all of this in the dark only really seeing what it looked like when I took the picture. Why? I know what a weirdo I am that I absolutely had to get this project done tonight while it was raining and I could barely see.  I don't think I even know anyone else who would feel compelled to start a project like that in those conditions. It's not normal.  So I'm just 'fessing up, admitting it now to anyone bothering to read, I am crazy. 
Further proof of how weird I am is this.  The husband is out of town and I don't even bother to take all the pillows off the bed before climbing in.  Oh no, I stack them all lengthwise on his side of the bed so it will be easier to make the bed tomorrow morning.  
So basically the point of this whole post is just to give everyone fair warning, this may not be the time to ask me or tell me anything important.  My brains are absent.  Either they are strolling down one the many paths of memory lane, or they've just gone completely nuts.  Either way I'm kinda useless.  Let's talk next week!

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Sunshine from the Bakery


I've been feeling a little under the weather the last couple of days but these little gems from one of Jeff's clients helped to bring a little sunshine into my day!

Sunday, February 2, 2014

Tight Squeeze But Still Pleased

And we're back! Our family for the weekend has disbanded and we're back into our own homes.  We'll all sleep much more comfortably tonight.  All of us will have hot water for our showers in the morning. Not one of us will be sleeping in a closet. No one will have to explain why the bed is completely broken underneath them.  We can dry our clothes without plugging our ears to buffer the wretched screeching.  The ratio of showers to people will be better than 23 to 3.  We'll have room to park the cars with out an engineering degree. But we won't have the late night chats, the noisy meals, the competitive games of ping pong, the piles of junk food, tons of laughter, and awesome skiing just 15 minutes away.  Our weekend was an adventure with a little danger, and a lot of fun, and in spite of our lovely accommodations we were all sad to see it come to an end so quickly! 

Saturday, February 1, 2014

Sunshine and Smiling Freezing Faces

 It was one of those perfectly beautiful days
The kids were happy
 and the sun was shining
 it was also incredibly, cover your face cold!
 the powder in the trees lured all of the boarders
and the jumps just begged you to put your skills to the test
 At lunch time we learned to stay clear of the spaghetti and meatballs
heard all about the ski bus
 rescued lost bindings and adventured uncharted routes
 We determined the fine line in beard stroking that determines pensive and pedophile
and debated on just how awesome my hair actually is.
 But when its time to go you just gotta flip your weave and leave
We spent the day in awe of our beautiful surroundings and so grateful for the timing of the snow
We sarcastically shredded the gnar and slayed the pow pow
 We doubled the fun with Austen and Austin
 We teased 
 and posed
and went down a couple of runs that we could have done without
even if we kinda rocked it anyways ;)
 We all had at least one really good yard sale 
 We found lots of ice and plenty of rocks
 our skis and boards will need some freshening up 
 But if we could, we would all spend at least one more day on the slopes at Sierra!
 Kirsten called Chevy's to warn them we were coming. All 23 of us. She didn't give them three good reasons they should split our checks and didn't tell them that the mayor would be there, but we all managed to get good parking and dinner served none the less
 I'm not going to lie and tell you we didn't leave a huge mess, but hope that the tip was enough to allow us back in next time!
Haley warned us that Aaron was picking up ice cream and brownie mixso we should put on our stretchy pants.
 We didn't argue with that, we just nursed our wounds and thawed out by the fire and patiently waited
 while discussing Austin's closet and Drew dreaming of rainbows
 And then we just sat and laughed at all these crazy kids. And then they laughed at us when they beat the adults in two competitive rounds of reverse charades.
 We had no complaints about the men serving us dessert
and everybody was happy with their ice cream
 We were reaquainted with an old friend with an affinity for camels


 The party animal McCauleys finally started unwinding after two and a half hours of energy
We were all impressed at what a trooper Lauryn has been since her accident yesterday.  So many versions of how it happened are going around and nobody's telling which one is true!
 Clearly these guys need a huge Mountain dew or some berries and cream because they were quckly losing steam
And things just got crazier as the night went on
until everyone slowly wound down
 Some people couldn't even make it to the vestibule or their rooms before calling it a night.  We won't mention anything about the loud noises, brown drool or supposed snoring.  Well just say it was another great day and we were all spent.

Friday, January 31, 2014

A Whole Lot of Fun

A few cute girls

a cozy closet to curl up in
an extra hour of sleeping in on a school day

a couple of my cute kids 
an almost season pass to an extra resort
a little bit of sunshine
some good family fun
a break from skiing with the little ones
a lunch on the patio and one little sister  who broke her arm
a drastic drop in temperature and a faceless skier
a full blown snow storm just 30 minutes before closing
a good friend 
and a good laugh
a warm restaurant
good company

and a great meal

an empty chair and a few old friends
a cozy corner in a big room
a little massage time
a friendly competition and a close match
                            
a fuse ball master 
a fun day and four families ready for a repeat tomorrow!