Thursday, June 22, 2006

A Lovely Day

Yesterday the boys and I went with Mike to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I don't really want to talk about the aquarium, although it was fun and I highly recommend for everyone to go. I just want to say how much I treasured having a day with my friend Mike, who I have known since kindergarten and is like a brother to me. It was a beautiful warm day here yesterday, which is not the norm here for June, it's usually foggy. And being at the Aquarium with all the tourists, well it just makes a local glad that they live here in this paradise. For two more days anyway.



Today I sign the final papers to transfer the house, tonight is the last Bunco, tomorrow is the final pack up, tomorrow night is the last Bible Study, then we go. I have been so looking forward to moving but this week I find myself just looking back all the time. Us leaving has been hard on my family and friends and now it's time to admit that it is hard on me too. These next couple of days are going to be rough, I will need to keep a tissue box with me at all times I'm sure, starting right now.

So this is the last post from Monterey, I'm shutting down the computer tomorrow, and the next time you hear from me I'll be in Spokane. This has been a nice place to grow up and live and raise my kids, but it's not the place I will miss so much as the people. I hope at least some of you will come up and visit us in Spokane, which is a great town too.

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Extremely Important Update


Not really...my life is so boring! (I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that my kids are out of town till Monday) Pack Pack Pack, bleahhh! I swear if it wasn't for the New Wave music channel on the TV not only would I never get anything done, I would also lose my mind. My kitchen is totally packed up now, all I have to do is clean out the refrigerator and freezer, mostly throwing away stuff. In a week this house will be empty and we will be gone daddy gone, gone awaaayyy. Sorry, the music's been going all day. I'm really excited to be going, even though everyone around me is not exactly thrilled about it. I'm sure I will get to Spokane and have a breakdown and spend all my time crying on the phone to everyone down here about what the hell did I do.
So if you live in Spokane and are reading this and happen to meet me someday, be sure and be extra friendly to me, I will need it! This has been an Extremely Important Update.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

(Almost Over)

Since my last post I cooked a huge dinner and breakfast for 5 boys(there were 3 no-shows), baked a cake, ran 2 loads each in the dishwasher and the clothes washer, refereed a wrestling match between my 6'2" 17 year old and a 4 foot tall 11 year old (THAT was fun), called the sewer and drain service to unclog a toilet (they came right over THANK GOD!) and slept (like a rock).

This morning when Leo woke up he gave me a big hug and a kiss and whispered in my ear "thanks, mom, I love you".

I'd do it all again tomorrow. (Except for maybe the clogged toilet part.)

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Pray For Me



In one hour, seven of Leo's closest friends will be arriving for a sleepover to celebrate his 12th birthday which is next week. Let me rephrase: My house is going to have eight pre-teen boys in it for almost 24 hours. EIGHT HUNGRY MISCHEVIOUS BOYS. Boys who will not sleep tonight and who will play pranks on anyone who has the audacity to fall asleep first. Boys whose first order of business will be to form opposing teams and attack each other with water balloons, super soakers, etc. Boys who will start eating when they get here and not stop until tomorrow when it's time to go. Let's do the math, shall we?

8 (boys) X 12 (years old) = 96 (number of years I will age between now and noon tomorrow)

If you don't hear from me by Friday, send reinforcements!

Friday, June 09, 2006

Happy First Week of Summer!

Sorry there hasn't been any posting this week. I just didn't think you wanted to hear things like I bought wardrobe boxes yesterday or I bubble wrapped all my artwork. The best thing that happened this week is that Steve came down from Spokane to pick up Sara's car that they left here when they moved 2 months ago. He is gone already. We had a fun visit yesterday which included dinner at a new asian buffet in Salinas (called Sakura in the Alvin Square center on North Main--FABULOUS!) and a trip to the Dollar Tree which was a riot as usual. My kids usually transform a trip to the Dollar Tree into a hilarious experience. Let's just say that if someone leaves an open bag of panty liners on a shelf and my kids come across it, that those panty liners are going to end up in strategic places all over the Dollar Tree. Oh how I wished I had the camera. Speaking of, I think I will be in the market for a new camera soon, any recommendations will be appreciated.
Anyway, yesterday's Dollar Tree excursion was the second one of the week. The first one was on Wednesday at the Seaside DT , with just myself and Max. We had more fun in that stupid toy aisle than should be allowed by law. I'm surprised we didn't get kicked out for all the commotion we were causing. It's really like going to the Island of Misfit Toys there, one particular brand of dolls caught our eye, they are called Club Teen.



We think they should be called Clubbed Teens. All their little heads have been dismembered from their little bodies. They were so pathetic that I was compelled to bring two of them home with me, I have named them Mary Kate and Ashley.

So today is a typical summer day in Monterey (FOGGY AND COLD) and there is more packing and bubble wrapping to do, so see ya later!

Saturday, June 03, 2006

Yesterday Was A Big Day

It started with a home inspection which included a visit from the future owners of my house and their realtor. It took almost 3 hours, during which time we kind of got to know one another and I got to tell them the history of my family home and why things are the way they are. Such as the reason that the counters are so high in the back bathroon is that my brother is very tall and they built them with him in mind. Stuff like that. The new owners seem like very nice people and I'm confident that my house will be in good hands. I also informed them about the handprints of my brother and sister in the cement in the back patio. They are dated 1953, that would put my brother and sister's ages at 6 and 4, respectively. I told the new owners that if they ever want to get rid of the handprints to please call my sister, because she will come down with a cement saw and take them out, and they said that they like them and plan on keeping them just where they are. Apparently this was not enough reassurance for my sister, who came to Max's graduation party last night armed with a bucket of plaster of paris and the intention to take a casting of said handprints. (She has had handprint issues ever since her boys' handprints were mistakenly jackhammered up during some backyard landscaping.) At first I was hesitant because we had no earthly idea what we were doing, but then my brother chimed in with this pearl of wisdom--"If we all don't know what we're doing, we can't make a mistake!" This seemed to make sense at the time so we forged ahead after a perusal of the internet, which only gave vague information on the casting of animal tracks. Long story short, it sort of worked. I'd supply pictures, but they all came out blurry, either I had a sudden onset of Parkinson's disease or I mistakenly changed the settings on my camera.
Unfortunately, I realized this today, after Max's graduation ceremony! Which was entertaining as usual. I don't know if this happens at other schools' graduation ceremonies, but here's how Monterey High's goes. The entire duration of the ceremony the graduating class sitting on the field is surreptitiously blowing up beach balls and batting them around the field, all the while trying to keep them from faculty members which are posted around the perimeter of the graduates' seating area. Faculty members who's sole purpose is to seek and destroy said beach balls. When one of the seniors gets a beach ball aloft there are great cheers from the seniors and the audience and then all activity at the speech podium stops while a teacher runs around trying to intercept it, which they finally do amid groans from the crowd. Then the ceremony can continue. It makes for a longish but fun graduation. After the ceremony we all came here and ate pizza and cakes from Rosine's. All in all it was a very nice day, filled with friends, family and fun, and the last get together we will have in this house. Now I can REALLY start packing!

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Tired of Goodbyes, Ready for Hellos

In the past week I have said goodbye to: my hairdresser Veronica, my kids' pediatrician, my dentist, and today was the worst one so far: Foothill Elementary School. Both my kids went there, so I have been involved continuously as a parent for 13 years now. It was hard to say goodbye to the office staff, parents that I have been to countless events with and too many field trips to count, and teachers that have made wonderful contributions to my children's education and life in general. But what made this goodbye truly difficult is the fact that this was MY elementary school. When Foothill opened in 1966, ours was the first Kindergarten class, I went there through sixth grade, just like Leo. It hasn't changed all that much, and while I always felt good about my kids going there just like I did, I didn't realize what a huge emotional connection I had to that school until today. Every step through the campus was an emotional replaying of my youth. I passed the library and thought, there is the place where in fifth grade I watched a film with all the other girls about how we were going to get our periods. The nurse's office where I came after Matt Roper pushed me off the monkey bars head first. The playground where we played kickball and foursquare and hopscotch and dodgeball. Even if we weren't moving away, today would have been a sad day for me, knowing that now I am not only a former Foothill student, but a former Foothill parent.

Sigh.

Other painful goodbyes I have to look forward to: My church, my bunco group, my friends and my family. Can't wait! :(

PS I am not the only one who feels this way about Foothill. At my 25th high school reunion in 2004 we had this picture taken:



Who are these people? They were in my kindergarten class! It was funny, we didn't do a lot of reminiscing about high school, but had fun remembering our days at Foothill, somehow everyone had a story about barf.