Plans and Worries

I'm a planner.  I want to have a vacation or something fun on the books before the current vacation kicks off. I don't need to have the future fun mapped out, but I do want to know that there is something to look forward to as we are jetting home, or I'm wrapping up all the vacation laundry.  

One of my favorite Amazon purchases last year was a three-year monthly planner.  I have vacations, birthdays, school holidays mapped out from 2022 to 2024.  I'd buy a 2025-2027 planner if they had one available.

One of the first things I put in the current planner was the date to register Lucy for summer camp.  Camps fill up, and to get the week you want you need to be on the ball.  So, on March first, I logged on to the selected camp, paid the deposit and signed that kid up.
This camp is highly recommended for the kid that likes water activities.  It's on the Puget Sound in Edmonds and one of the first things that happens is they issue the kid a wet suit for the week.  Then it's a week of kayaking, swimming, water bikes and paddle boarding.   It sounds wonderful.

Having never dealt with this camp before I didn't know what to expect, so that when a confirmation email wasn't sent after registration I didn't worry.  I knew that they would eventually communicate with us.  From the info on the site it sounds like the folks that run this camp are attorneys who possibly take six weeks in the summer off to run this camp and then jump back to real life.   I wasn't worried about the delays in responses to emails.  The camp didn't "open" until May 1st.  

But, now here it is, six days before drop off and I still haven't heard anything.  
I left messages, emailed earlier in the summer and did get a verbal confirmation that they have Lucy in their system but the lack of a pre-camp email that gives a family time to gather and pack all the necessary stuff is odd.

This is giving me anxiety and worry that we will show up and Lucy won't have a spot.  As a parent, I try not to manage away all the twists and turns that life can throw at a kid.  Dealing with change is how you grow into a capable adult, but having another summer camp yanked away would be really hard.  This isn't a participation trophy - this is a week of independent living with other kids.  

Last night, I texted the number on an email that I received in the winter when I first asked about the camp and woke up to an actual response.   (WHEW!)  We exchanged a bunch of information and she (Kristen) agreed it was strange that I haven't gotten any emails or information since we registered.  

So, now I'm anxiously awaiting her return call with details.   I'm still very worried that our registration didn't stick, and that Lucy won't be headed to camp on Sunday.  However, in a fit of optimism I ordered the required sleeping pad, which will be here Thursday. 
 

Lake Roosevelt

Cousins

Chilling on the pontoon.

No hands!

Peeping Lucy

Lucy & Grandpa Dancing

3rd Birthday Photo Album

First Gift of the day

Sully in Sunglasses

jump rope

ready for a party

princess birthday hat

this cupcake is on fire!

Lu & Jo in dresses later in the evening

after a bath, but still in the party mood

a selfie with mommy

a quiet moment with some friends

the birthday cupcakes

Summer!

It was an amazing weekend, the kind where you know that no moment has been wasted.

We did it all this weekend, dinner in the back yard, swimming, visiting friends, exhausting the kid and all things fun and great.

Saturday we zipped to the mall in the morning to check out the "amazing sale" at Eddie Bauer and decided to swing by the container store for storage items for the new storage bins in our loft.  I kind of went crazy with the selection and will likely be returning some of the haul.  There's form vs. function and the little discussed dimension of financial.  Yes, the new bins are pretty and they will function nicely, but are they necessary?  It remains to be seen.

Saturday night was our date with the boat pick up people.  During the back and forth emails I wasn't nervous about our decision to have dinner with these people whom we spoke with for about 30 minutes at the mall.   The 20% introvert side of me was worried that it would be awkward but from the moment we arrived it was relaxed and the conversation flowed fast and furious.   There was some pre-planning where the question was asked "any food or conversation topics we should avoid?" This is a great question.  In this day and age people's food issues are so complex that cooking for others can be quite the challenge.   But, since we had tentatively landed on beef as a protein I didn't think it was necessary to bring up Jason's aversion to salmon.  And, the walnut thing with me is not a fatal allergy and I am perfectly capable of picking them out of my food.   Also, I didn't mention that I'm still rather ruined on chardonnay after all - we were bringing wine.  On the conversation front, I figured I could hold my over opinionated tongue if we started to get into a squishy area.

I giggled when I got the email that read "change of plans, A wants to cook salmon, so bring an oaky chardonnay."    Truth be told, the salmon was amazing and Jason even inquired as to how it was cooked.  He told me in the car that he'd like to maybe try it sometime at home.  (On the grill - cooking salmon in the house is a no no.)    We didn't bring chardonnay and shared why.  Most people have a beverage (tequila, rum?) that the smell is so overpowering that it takes them back to a bad decision from their youth.  Hey, I was 42... stop judging me!

Alas, by the end of the evening the 'salmon' story was known by all and I don't get the feeling our new friends were insulted.  Honestly, it was some good fish.   Oh, and that kid.  She was served up a plate with cheese quesadilla, green beans, corn on the cob and eventually a cup cake.  What did she eat?  two bites of corn and about 6 of the crunchy fresh green beans from my plate.  The cup cake... nope.  ODD BIRD.

Sometimes the kids don't leave a party with the clothes they brought. We were able to donate a too small swimsuit to the far more petite (not quite the TALL child that we have) Noel and Lucy left with some sassy black boots that were too small for our hostess.  I couldn't get pants on Lucy so we walked to our car in a shorty shirt, a diaper and knee high black boots.  If she wasn't two it would have been an unfortunate wardrobe selection.

Sunday we worked hard to get to church early.  Pastor Kirby, the pastor who married us, has been elected as Bishop of the Northwest Washington Synod (that's a big churchy word.)  What does this mean?  Well, after 30 years, he will no longer be the senior pastor at our church.  We are happy for him and think he's going to be great, but we are so sad to no have him to ourselves anymore.   Sunday was his last day with SMLC and there was a big party.

Church was so packed (bigger than Christmas or Easter) that they filled the entry way with folding chairs and those folks watched the service on monitors.  It was an emotional service and I'm so glad we went - even though it was about 300 degrees in the chapel.  (Chapel isn't the right word because we aren't Catholic but I don't know the official Lutheran term.  Perhaps, 'worship space'.)   The service started at 10, and Kirby opened his welcome to us by announcing that his mother, who has been ill, passed away at 8:00 am that morning.  WHOA.  I hope that he and his family were comforted by the waves of love rolling at them all day.

After church we headed home to set up the pool.  The projected temperature for the day was supposed to be around 88 (turned out to be 93).  Getting that pool up and running was a priority.  Of course, on a day that we were going to be hanging out in the back yard all day, the neighbors across the way were bringing down two very large trees on their property.  The sound of the chainsaws was loud and not relaxing and it was sad to see the trees come down.  The process is interesting, but I hope they had a good reason for doing it.

In the high heat of the day, we retired inside to watch a movie.  We only watch movies with Lucy on the weekends and after hours in the sun, it seemed like a smart idea.  She happily ate her bowl of popcorn and drank her juice while enjoying the "bovie".

This morning she was bathed in a layer of sunscreen before heading to school and looked cute as a button in her red, white and blue t-shirt.  She's letting me put her hair up now and again and as you can see, I'm out of practice, but will do it any chance I get.

Tonight we start swim lessons.  Wish us luck!

dinner on the patio

cupcake lollipop

The doomed tree

Lake TP

relaxing in the late afternoon

ready for Monday

the aftermath

Bath Time Burrito

Lucy asked to be wrapped up snug after her bath last night.  She looked so cute and was having fun, so I captured this video.

A different kind of pickup

One of the challenging things about being "older" parents is that most of our peers are so far beyond the baby stage that they look at us with a profound sense of relief.  I can see the looks of "wow, thank goodness it's them and not us" in their eyes as we deal with a cute, but willful toddler.  Many of the old high-school gang have kids that are starting and even finishing up college.  Even the college friends who 'waited' to have kids are dealing with the trauma of high school, but here we are talking about moving Lucy to a big girl bed and worrying about our it'll happen when it happens potty training philosophy.  These friends love our girl and enjoy her, but it's with a grandparentish feeling.  You know, hop them up on sugar and then send them home.   The idea of playing in the mini-kitchen EVERY DAY is not something that sounds awesome, to these wonderful people.  They've done their time in the Kid Kraft Kitchen.  (I just noticed the K.K.K. - is Lucy playing in a racist kitchen?)

We have a great set of allies in this journey in JoJo's parents.  They are young, energetic and seem to tolerate us well.  The girls love each other and I know Lucy asks for JoJo almost every day.  It is wonderful to have family who are friends who are going through the same thing we're going through.

However, we've talked about how it would be nice to have some more friends who are around our age and have a kid or kids that Lucy could bond with.  We're attracted to the parents of one of the kids at school.  Lily and Lucy are pals and Lily's mom is great.  She's also pretty full up with friends and family in her own world.  I stalked her for a bit trying to make a mom to mom connection, but alas we are friendly, but not friends.

Today, in the never ending quest for things that are fun and burn energy we took Lucy to Bellevue Square to play on the boats in the Kid's Cove. (See... you can have alliteration without doing a nod to our shameful friends.) Lucy still loves the boats and I love the containment as well as the soft play area.  Lucy made friends with a shorty today who looked to be about her age (turns out is about 3 months older) .  As Lucy and N. played N's mom and I started chatting.  I've tried to talk up other parents at the Cove, but it hasn't gone well.  Mostly I manage to scare tired nanny's or grandparents, but N's mom was funny, open to talking and very friendly.   While the girls ran and twirled, we introduced ourselves.  After about 30 minutes a wonderful thing happened... N's mom asked me for my phone number.  Excited, I gave it up willingly and then horror washed over me.

"You don't sell Amway, do you?" I asked without any fear that if the answer was yes that it would be offensive.  It would be..but then I'd simply be offending an Amway salesperson and I think it's allowed.

S. laughed and said she was a writer.  When she asked what I did I used the simplest explanation that I've managed to work out that doesn't take four hours to explain "IT Security".  This is where S lured me in and stroked my easily bruised ego "Oh that's not what I expected, you're so funny I expected you to be a comedy writer or something."  (Somehow this blog doesn't quite qualify.)   I did and do admit that my day job is rather, um... unfunny.  I do like it though, so what can I do?  I'm like a super hero, unfunny during the day, but when the situation arises I set aside my Security Policy Framework and drop witty one liners to fill empty, awkward silence.

After the girls kissed and hugged good-bye, we waived to our new acquaintances and headed on our way back to our regularly scheduled day.  In the car I mentioned to Jason that it was nice that she asked for our contact information and that even though I'm clearly excited about the prospect of getting to know these also-40ish parents of the uber friendly N, I'm not the one debating when it would be appropriate to make contact.   For once, I don't have to be the stalker.

So, we'll see if a play-date ever happens.

Happy Second Birthday!

The art center at 7:00 am

Happy second birthday my sweet girl!

A birthday message from mommy & daddy

The new kitchen at 2:00 pm

Introducing the chef to her space at 3:00pm

What's in here?

Phone for you?

Oh yes, I like this gift!

Lucy & JoJo in the sleeping bag.

cake!

JoJo & Auntie Chelsey

We three

  I ordered new return address labels and added these cute "images" of us.  We don't look like this in real life, but I thought they were fun.

funny, when I do this she cries

Parents: The real walking dead

Lucy had a bad night last night.  She didn't fall asleep instantly like she usually does and was crying for us about every hour on the hour until 1:00am when we finally gave her a dose of magic sleeping medicine.  (Baby advil)

Poor little bunny was eyes wide open and tired.  This is a bad combination.  Our normal trick of leaving her alone and letting her work it out simply did not work last night.  The more she fussed, the more awake she sounded.  We tried the "go through the bedtime routine again" strategy - which usually works, but failed.  We tried the rub her back until she falls asleep method, which was fine until she woke up again.  I tried the "rub her eyes like you would a chicken" (ask my dad) and it worked until she woke up about 45 minutes later.

She did wear herself out, and thankfully woke up in a good mood and seemed happy this morning.  I, on the other hand, would love to go back to bed.

In a discussion with Jason about our night he segued to The Walking Dead tv show which prompted me to Google zombie baby images and I came up with this gem.  Thank you  How to be a Dad for this amazing and true comparison.

Another Video

Here's Lucy hanging out on a random Saturday.  She likes to play "night-night".  She lays down and we have to cover her with a blanket.  She gets a bit distracted by the tv because there are pictures that go with the music we're playing and she spots herself and other people she knows - the grandparents.  Also, if you listen really carefully you can hear Jason actually singing in the background for a brief moment.

Sorry about my voice - since I'm holding the camera and talking over the music I'm irritatingly loud.

Lucy gets her bubbles on

Videos

The Seattle Center Dale Chihuly exhibit.  Narrated (quietly) by me, but not expertly "there are yellow things, with red things coming out of it"  Things is the term that all experienced and engaging art critics use to describe what they see.




And, grammy in the kayak




"  Hello Dinner!"

Word Verification Feature

After a couple mild mentions of displeasure over the use of the word verification feature on the comments section of this blog, I have removed it.  I too find having to interpret non-words to validate that I am a human and not some robot posting ads for penis enlargement or moving companies very irritating.

I still use "Comment Moderation" which allows me to review and approve any incoming comment before it is posted.  I don't mind reviewing the massive influx of comments to my blog.  (The word massive is sarcasm.)

Today I rejected a comment from someone selling Louis Vuitton on their very reputable and 100% legitimate website.  Funny thing though they left their comment on a blog post from 2009.  I'm not sure how effective this brand of spam marketing is.  I only have nine subscribers to the blog and while I'm sure there are hundreds more who read this regularly who haven't subscribed I doubt that anyone but me ever takes the time to reread my witty and meaningful posts.

Because of the comment, I did go to see what the blog post was about.  Generally, these spam advertisers find some key word in the blog that relates to what they are selling.  For example, when I posted a video of the cutest child in the entire world moving our furniture through our kitchen and called it "Moving Day" I received comments from a moving company in Cincinnati.  The words matched, but the context did not.   This particular post was about my anxiety over the wedding guest list.  There were no references to upscale leather goods for trendy ladies who like European brands.

I read the post and then had a laugh over what I think is probably the best comment ever left on one of my blog posts.  Sure you could argue that Peter's Raccoon Friend is also not human and shouldn't be allowed to leave comments, but I think PRF is brilliant and witty.  I miss that little furry bastard and those wonderful comments.  My guess is that either PRF got married and is too busy in a happy union to invent dark and sarcastic replies to the blog, or I'm boring as shit now that all I ever talk about is that damned kid.  Either way, in honor of a wonderful moment in this blog I invite you to skim the blog and then enjoy Peter's Raccoon Friend in all of his finest.  Best Comment Ever

I feel dizzaaay

Maui Recap

We arrived on a windy day, but the temperature was pleasant and in spite of the Red flags on the shore alerting us to high surf we quickly hopped into the ocean for an inaugural dip.   We weren't in much danger with our water activities, which mostly included hoping waves and some light swimming.  Had we been attempting to snorkle around the reef that was a few yards into the bay, then it would have been an issue.  Later in the week when we ventured out we realized that the coral at some points is only about 1 -2 feet under water and swimming over it in rough waters would be extremely dangerous.

We stopped at Costco after picking up our rental car and purchased supplies for the week.  By supplies you know I mean wine and the required jug of Trader Vic's Mai Tai.  Sadly, we ended up having to return some of the wine as we were not as 'winey' as we thought we would be.

Our days mostly started out with breakfast, either at the Gazebo restaurant next door or at home with leftovers from the Gazebo restaurant next door.  This was a popular place that opened at 7:30 am, and the line started to form at 7:00.  We foolishly arrived at 7:20 and were in the second round of seating.  The wait, however, was worth it!  Macadamia nut pancakes with a coconut whipped cream topping.   (DROOL)  We also ordered their house breakfast fried rice.  HOLY GUACAMOLE, this is a tasty treat.  Along with fresh onions and peppers this rice is chock full of bacon, ham and sausage.  It was a mouth watering savory companion to the fluffy but sweet pancakes.   The serving was huge and thus there was enough for us to have it for breakfast the following day and if we had been super frugal the day after that.

The blow hole

We did a few road trips, the first was to the Maui Blow Hole.  The  rental car road map stated that there were parts of the island that we weren't allowed to drive, but they didn't give actual mile markers.  I'm a nervous nelly and assumed we were in the "red zone" the minute the road switched from a four lane to a narrow 2 lane.  The drive to the blow hole was easy and my anxiety was for nothing.  This isn't a park or a sight that is marked with signs. We drove until we saw where all the cars were pulled over and decided to get out an see.  Sure enough, over the bluff there it was.    When the lava cooled, I'm guessing a few weeks ago, a tunnel was formed and when the surf crashes in a rather impressive spout of water shoots out.

We decided to hike down the "trail" to get a better view.  It is not a state park with any kind of maintained walkway, but we saw moms with kids and older folks making their way back up, so we thought we could do it.  If you are not sure footed, or can't chew gum and walk at the same time, this is not a hike for you.  The human brain is working overtime with each step, focusing on balance, the next step, which rock looks the most secure and how not to fall on your ass takes some effort.   

Our beach, Napili Bay

Hand painted signs inform you that you should not venture to the wet rocks and NOT down to the flat surface where the blow hole is.  Recently, some Darwin Award Winner went in for a better photo op and got sucked in.  The news stories didn't say if his body was recovered, but I would hope for his family that what goes in, goes out.

Anywho... we didn't go that far.  We hiked down to about two thirds of the way to where we could get good photos and then stopped.  Our big camera earned her place in our home with some great shots.

Another day, we decided to drive some of the way to Hana.  That is a fun drive, but not one for a passive driver.  It took us about 3 hours to go 30 miles.  Its faster on the way back because we didn't have to stop and take pictures along the way back.  The road is VERY twisty and narrow.  There are lots of one lane bridges and for the most part people were considerate.  A couple times we had to get the hell out of the way of a tour bus and a VERY large delivery truck.    We also had to dodge an asshole whose hug the wall skills sucked.  No matter, it was a beautiful drive and we stopped at a lovely place and had our boxed lunch that we picked up in Paia.    We didn't make it all the way to Hana, but we weren't trying to get there.  The guidebook says the trip IS the destination, and we wanted to get back in time for a good dinner.  Since it was our vacation and we were in agreement it was a perfect outing.

windy, but happy

I booked us into the Four Winds II, a catamaran day-trip to the tiny island of Molokini.  This little horseshoe is a sanctuary and walking on or even touching the island is prohibited.  The boats come and moor on the inside of the crater and the happy (mostly pasty white) tourists tumble into the sea to snorkel.  The trip was worth the cost, but not for the snorkeling.  We enjoyed meeting the very friendly crew, other vacationers and the open sea.  We saw some whales (but not at close range) and the sea life at the crater was nice, but we had more colorful fish at our little bay by the condo.   Also, we saw a LARGE turtle at our bay as well - that was amazing and very exciting.

The boat trip day was a lot of fun, but because we started so early, launched at 7:00 am, the cool icy wine that started to flow at 10am didn't seem so wrong.  Turns out... Terri drank all day and half way though the movie we rented for the evening (and the entire bottle of red wine that "we" opened and "I" drank) I went to bed to watch something else and Jason said when he came to bed he watched about an hour of tv and I didn't move at all.  He said he did a breath check to see if I was alive, but clearly my day was OVER.   The next morning, Terri not feel so good.  (sad face)  I think I had a mai tai with dinner that night, but it was a water day.  Whoops.

Our other beach excursion day was to a bay we saw on our way to the blow hole.  This cove had actual stairs down to the ocean and a nice flat beach.  The beach at the condo was great for swimming and snorkeling, but had a wicked pitch that made hanging out ocean side a bit iffy.  This little beach was protected from the wind and nicely flat.  In fact, unlike our beach that dropped off to about 6-10 feet deep at about four feet from shore, this beach was shallow for yards and yards off shore.  The surf was great for body surfing and we think it would be a nice place for kids to play.  (We're already talking about when to come back with a larger crew, including the Peanut.)

At the luau

Our night time activities included dinners out at multiple beach side places and an evening at a luau.  I think the luau is a required activity and the one we (I) chose was a winner.  Somehow we were seated in the front row which gave us an unencumbered view of the pretty dancers.  The different thing about this luau vs. the other shows is that they had four shows, each from a different pacific island region, Hawaii, New Zealand, Samoa and Tahiti.  Each dinner course was from the featured region and the dances were native to that area as well. 

We did cook "in" one night and our rib eye and tater tot meal was superb.  We had to gift our second rib eye to the leathery couple downstairs on our last night, but we always had the option to eat it. 

Lucy was never far from our minds and about mid-day Thursday I was aching to go home.  Friday was rough because my desire to be home was in over drive and my vacation is ending sadness was happening at the same time.  We kept ourselves busy and made sure to savor our last day.

I give us an A+ for packing in lots of fun activities, but not over doing it.    We tried the Shave Ice (a glorified snow cone) and loved the one at the shop where she made her own syrups. 

We get a B- for escaping the tourist shopping enclaves.  We are returning home with t-shirts and a loud hawaiian shirt for Jason, a semi-loud hawaiian dress for me and a pink and yellow floral beachy dress for Lucy.  I picked up a snorkel set (fins, mask and breathing tube) from Costco - which was a great buy.  Jason opted to upgrade his breathing tube that was purchased in the 1990's and his price point was the same as my entire kit.  His goggles are made with his prescription, so that the love of my life who is blind as a bat can see the fishies, therefore he only needed an upgraded snorkel tube. 

I give us a C- for staying up late, the three hour time difference is rough.  I was thankful for the days we 'slept in' until 6:00 am.  We got some wonderful uninterrupted sleep and the time zone is NOTHING to complain about.

We get an A+ for sun management.  We are a pretty brown, without any burns or scally skin.  My self tanner with sun screen helps that a lot, but we both started out WHITE and are returning home with a healthy start on the summer glow. 

Vacationing without Lucy was good and bad.  Every time I saw a family with a "Lucy"  I felt pangs in my heart, but I know that for the 20% of the time that she would have been happy 80% of the other time she, or we would have been miserable.   Grandma and Grandpa did a great job and other than some strange 4:30 am wake ups she was fine. 

We get in tonight at 8:00 pm and she'll already be in bed, but I'm sort of hoping for a middle of the night wake up so I can get my hands on my girl.  This mothering thing is bigger than I thought it would be. 

We will certainly invoke the grandparents again for future vacations, but I can wait. 

Talk with you soon. Mahalo

Problem Solved

It looks like some lady named Vicki from somewhere Pennsylvania won my HGTV dream house.  I want to hate her for walking away with my fantasy vacation home, but after watching the video of her winning I can't.  She cried the good cry and still managed to be funny.  Her husband even dissed HGTV a bit when he said they watch the channel every night to put them to sleep (ha ha... I do that with CSI.)

Good for her.  I hope the dilemma of how to sleep more than 6 people in that 5,000 square foot house isn't too much of a burden.

I guess we're destined for the next dream house.

the winner of my house

Date Night

Jason and I got dressed up and went out to dinner for his birthday. Normally, dinner out for us is the 4:45 seating at Casa Durango, our neighborhood hot spot for burritos and carne asada. Antonio doesn't mind that we bring little miss discards cheerios on the floor and we like the food. Someday, she'll stay up past 7:00 on a regular basis and we may be able to dine out with the general population again. Until then, dinners out are either with the no-teeth set (oldies and babies) or it's s big deal that involves babysitters. If I have to pay a babysitter, I'm going to do dinner right. So, for Jason's birthday we dressed up and went to El Gaucho. Sure, it's expensive as hell, but I got to put on a dress and the fancy shoes.

Our Lucy sitters arrived early so they could play with her so we headed to the restaurant early. We enjoyed a cocktail at the bar. We had all night to give each other love eyes so a rap with the bartender is fun. We discussed the merits of infused vodkas. (Don't be surprised if we whip up a batch for the summer.) After our cocktail hour we were escorted to our table, a lovely two top in the back of the dark candle lit section. This restaurant had a few sections that, in my observation, are seated based upon your mode of dress. The well lit section above the bar seems to be filled with the jeans and t-shirt crowd, the section we were in had the suits, jackets and ladies in sparkle gear or dresses. There is an elevated ring of booths around the perimeter of the dining area and those were occupied by request during the reservation process (maybe next time that will be my request.) There is a second level that is mostly private rooms for larger parties. I asked the waiter about the segregation of diners based upon their mode of dress and he (in his tuxedo) swore up and down that it wasn't true. However, not one t-shirt was in our section, nor have I ever seen it in my many (4) visits to the Gaucho.

We brought our own bottle of wine from our collection and were happy to pay the $25 corkage fee. We never would have paid the restaurant price for that wine, and we had been storing it for a while. It was yummy. Our dinner was wonderful, although my fillet medallions were overcooked and in spite of the dark location I could tell immediately. Our waiter arrived back at the table within seconds and pulled a flashlight from his tuxedo and took one look, gasped in horror and whipped my plate away before I could say "oh... I'll eat it". While I waited they brought me a plate of the most heavenly mashed potatoes that God ever created. I knew better than to smear them all over my face, but I really wanted to do it.

Jason and I talked like we were on an amazing first date about everything under the sun but we also gossiped about the people around us. We like to try and pick out the people on a date, the bored married couples, the people who are fighting and those that either have just had sex, or will be having sex in the next 90 minutes or so. To our right were two tables of two, a young couple with a bouquet of roses and petals sprinkled on the table and within arms reach an older couple who seemed to be celebrating a birthday - again with a small bouquet of roses. I felt bad that I hadn't thought that far ahead in requesting flowers to make Jason's birthday dinner that much more special. (I'm such a jerk.) To our left was a larger table and the couples arrived separately. The first to arrive was a couple in their late 20's, she was a lovely blond and he a dark haired dreamboat. They seemed happy and chatty with each other. However, when the second couple arrived, a brown haired woman with a man who looked eerily like the first guy the blond clammed up like someone took a crap on her skirt. (what!?) Anywho, when the older couple arrived it was clear it was the parents of the two men and the ladies were the wives. Instantly, the dark haired woman started talking and laughing with the mom and the blond didn't say another word the whole night. Everyone but her ordered appetizers, steaks and drank wine. They had a great time. She however ate salad, drank either water or a tall clear cocktail and seemed to be wishing for death. I thought how awful it must be to be happily in love with your man but not connect with his boisterous family. Frankly, the family seemed fun so the poor girl came off like she has a major stick up her butt.

 We lingered over dinner and dessert and the older couple to our right finished dinner and left. I noticed that they left their roses on the table, so after a few moments I said to Jason, "I'm getting you flowers." Without even having to stand up, I reached over and pulled the small bouquet onto our table and we proceeded to talk and enjoy our night. Maybe a minute later the woman was back, in her coat, standing at her former table. The waiter arrived and she said, "I forgot my flowers, but they aren't here." HORROR. I felt badly and was terribly embarrassed. I fessed up immediately and as I handed them to her I sad "I'm so sorry, we thought you left them. Happy birthday." She looked confused, took the flowers and left without saying a word. (I'm sure I don't come off very well in her version of the story.) I turned back around and Jason was laughing at me. Clearly, my horror was humorous. I'll give him credit for acknowledging that it was a no harm, no foul situation.

A moment later the waiter arrived at our table with a new bouquet of roses in hand and pointed to the other table of two and said "that couple over there would like you to have their roses." HORROR. If you thought I was embarrassed before, imagine how that was compounded upon realizing that the folks around us saw me steal the flowers and then have to give them back. I leaned over and said "you don't want to give me your roses, I'm a common criminal." They laughed and said "enjoy!" Jason and I had a good laugh... well, he laughed and I tried to compose myself. As the evening wound down we were ready to head home and our waiter brought us the bill (horror again, but it was expected) and reminded us to take our flowers home. We were just getting on the freeway when I remembered that I forgot to grab the roses. Oh well, at least the generous couple had already left and didn't see me abandon their sweet gesture.

 Happy Birthday to my special guy, next time I'll buy you your own roses.

A terrible dilemna

What will we do?  I've been staying up nights unable to sleep because I'm overcome with worry.  We've put our names into the hat to win the 2012 HGTV Dream Home.

It is a 5000+ square foot home outside Park City, Utah.  It has an amazing kitchen, a glorious outdoor space complete with a hot tub, a tricked out 2 car garage (complete with an SUV) and everything you could think you might want.

I know they will pull our name and then we'll be in a terrible pickle.  This gorgeous place is amazing and it would be great fun to visit, but the darned thing only has 3 bedrooms so it only sleeps 6 people.  Can you imagine?  There is a very cool nook off the family room that kids can play in and I suppose Lucy could live in there, but the house isn't really equipped to deal with the large family gatherings I think we'd like to have.  The family room does have an Ethan Allen queen sized sleeper sofa and I hope that for $3947 the darned thing would be comfortable.  I haven't yet found a sleeper sofa that I would want to sleep on for more than 2 nights in a row, but maybe Ethan has that worked out.  Actually, my mom had a brilliant addition to her sleeper sofa - she slid a plywood board between the paper thin mattress and the jagged bars of the bed and it actually made her sofa bed bearable.  Not everyone has storage room for sheets of plywood that you might only use once or twice a year, but it made me feel special that she worked a solution to the tragedy that is "you don't mind sleeping on the pull out do you?"

So, I've been pacing the floors at night worried about learning to ski again - after all you can't live in Utah and not know how to ski.  I've been worried about how my 'can't ever keep my opinions to myself" nature will go over with the new neighbors and then how to keep the riff-raff from visiting.  By "riff-raff" I mean the relatives who a) don't read this blog and b) are boring or cause fights when they come around.

The real issue would be, move or don't move.  Our people mostly live here in Washington so a move to Utah for just the three of us would be sad, but I know I mentioned that this place has a hot tub.  There is an option where we could take the cash payout, which would be a pretty nice little addition to our savings account, but it would be sad not to get to hang out at the house for at least a month before they wrote us a check.  We could take the house and then find a property management company to rent it out for vacationers. I've always wanted to go to the Sundance Film Festival...having a tricked out place to stay would be great, or we could rent the last unused bedroom to Brad & Angelina.  Their kids would have to bunk with Lucy in the kids nook, but I'm sure they are use to sharing rooms anyway.

Oh well, I guess this is the burden I'll have to shoulder. I'm sure I'll figure out what to do before they draw my name later this spring.