Dating is like shopping for jeans

I have a friend that is entering the dating scene after having been with her high school sweetheart for 18 years, marrying him and then deciding that it might not be her "highest good" to spend her life with him. They are still friends and probably will be forever, but she has finally gotten to the place where she is ready to fulfill her dreams and find a man to spend her life with! She is nervous and apprehensive and has a lot of questions.... I wrote her a note and compared dating to shopping for jeans. This might sound silly, but I thought that it was pretty good, so I copied it and have put it here for you to read.

Dating is like trying on jeans...
You get really nervous and apprehensive thinking about buying new jeans because, well, jeans are tricky! They are all so different and you never really know which ones will work for you and it takes forever to figure it out. You prepare, you decide where to shop and you make sure you go when you are not bloated and you definitely do not eat that Mrs. Fields cookie BEFORE you try on. You save that for after....

So, you get to the mall and you walk around the store and find ones that you think look good and might look good on you, then you take a stack of like 20 into the dressing room. While you are in there you hold them up, look at them and some you immediately throw into the discard pile. Other pairs look promising and so you start to try them on. Some won't go over your thighs, discard. Some make your butt look big, discard. Some are a little too tight and maybe if you lost 5 pounds... you set these on the bench as maybees. You keep going through the pile and by the end you walk out with 2 or 3 pair that are good. You take these home. You wear them, you spend time with them and eventually you realize that one fits you really well and that they make you look AND feel REALLY great. Those are the FAVORITE jeans, they are the best and the ones that you will turn to when you need to feel comfortable, or feel sexy, or have to go somewhere that might make you nervous. You realize that you don't really wear the other pairs much, unless maybe your favorites are dirty or you feel like trying out the others again, just to be sure. But, no.. .your favorite jeans are the ones you go to all the time. Those are "It". You will wear them in the summer, cuffed... you will wear them in the winter with a sweater, you will wear them with an old, faded, comfy sweatshirt and you will wear them with a button down blouse and high heels. They go with everything, they go with you. After a while, they are you and if you can't find them or they need a wash, you might panic until you find them and can wear them again.

So it is with men. Go out, spend some time with them, take a few "home", try them in different situations and seasons, let them see you dressed up... and dressed down...and eventually ... you will realize which one is your favorite. I thought that I might have to stop the analogy there, but I have been married almost 10 years and think that I can go on. You know those favorite jeans, well sometimes you wear them so much, they get holes, they get a thin spot in the butt, the styles change... and this too, is the same with men. They change, they wear, their hair thins, they get older...BUT, the best jeans are the ones that you will patch and re-dye and even make into cut offs if necessary...anything to keep them around and keep having the opportunity to wear them. So it is, with husbands...

The favorite jeans, are the ones that even when you can't squeeze your butt into them, stay folded safely on your closet shelf, because you can't imagine life without them and even if they don't fit just right today... they might tomorrow.

Summer wanning

Well, I had about a week and a half off, not worrying about anything.. just relaxing and having fun.....
that seemed to come to a screeching halt today... when I registered for classes for the fall. I realized that I had so much work to do, things that I had fallen behind on during the summer and now, school is going to start. I freaked out a little, figured out the calendar, secured babysitters for next week when Andy and I both have to work, but the kids are not yet back in school, made dinner and then... got calmed down again. I am going to take 9 units, so it is going to be a full load for me...but I figured if I could survive 9 units in 6 weeks, I can surely do it in 14 weeks, right? I'll keep you posted!

Today, Ella and I spent some time together ... we went to Color Me Mine and she painted a little ceramic puppy dog. She was so cute, and I forgot the camera! We then went to the used book store, uptown and read and browsed and bought a few books. She went with me to school to register and just played and was so good (It only took me about a half an hour).

Tonight, Gavin is having his first sleep over with friends (vs. family... which he has done before). He is next door and it helps that I can hear them through the open windows. I don't know if he will actually sleep there, we will see... I really do expect a knock on the door around 11:00 p.m. But he does play over there, all the time and likes it there, so maybe he will be just fine. We are taking advantage of the time alone with Ella to play a board game or two and have some story time together. Later, we might watch some Olympics... or I might read.

I don't really know how I will get done all of the "stuff" that I need to take care of, but I guess I will just have to keep prioritizing and plugging away at it all, one thing at a time. Having this time off from work really makes me wish that I could quit. I am just "over it"... I don't really like it anymore...I feel like I just go to get a paycheck and that isn't my style. But, we need that paycheck...It would make school so much more "do-able" though... hmmmmmmmmm

I am rambling... so, I am signing off for the night.... off to enjoy some more vacation time...
tomorrow we will swim and see dinosaurs and Friday we will board Noah's Ark.... it is almost over and as with any vacation, it was not long enough!

My 100th post!

A Texas Doughnut - "the size of Gavin's head"! - at the Fair earlier in the summer

I was very surprised when I logged on today to discover that I have reached that glorified posting number of 100! I just came on to give a simple update and here I am, at 100...wondering if I should try to make it something more.

Nah.... I will still just give you the low down, but since it is my 100th, if you could please leave a comment so I know who is out there, that would make my day!

Gavin got his cast on, his incision looks good and he was able to get a red, waterproof cast. It is so cool, he can get it totally wet! We are going swimming tomorrow and to a water park next week! The cast is made with a Gortex lining and the regular fiberglass outer part... ah, technology!

We are officially on vacation! We decided way back in the spring that we would not be traveling this year. We were too worried about gas prices and I couldn't bear the thought of planning a big 2 week camping trip after the long 6 weeks in school. So.. we are very "in vogue" and doing a "Stay-cation"... who knew we would be so hip?Last week was fun and relaxing.... we had a night of Hand Shadows, we visited the local Children's Museum, hung out around the house to play with our new Wii (courtesy of my very generous brother!), cleaned out the garage (not a full clean out, just all of Andy's teaching stuff) it does look amazing now! We also had an Arts & Crafts day where we did play-dough, paint, bead work and collage! We took the kids to see "Kung Fu Panda" and had to drive an hour away, because it is not playing anywhere near us anymore! I did some scrapbooking and some napping and Gavin and I finished reading the first "Harry Potter" book and have started on the second. We went to the zoo and spent a morning bowling (we got a great coupon and got to bowl for free!). Ella is pretending to be a baby bird at the children's museum

Next week promises to hold lots of fun as well! We are going to a water park, having a board game day, visiting the Farmer's Market and relaxing by the pool. Andy and Gavin are going to head to the local arcade for some video game fun while Ella and I spend girly time at the local "paint your own pottery" shop. We also got tickets to see "Walking With Dinosaurs" and will be taking Gavin to that show. You can check it out here: http://www.dinosaurlive.com/. The other exciting thing that we are doing is that we got tickets to see the "Noah's Ark" exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center. We have been talking about doing this for some time so we are looking forward to that.

Next weekend is pretty open and we haven't really figured out what we will do, but Water Olympics and a Neighborhood Movie Night are in the works. Monday, the 25th, Gavin will get his cast off and during that week Andy will be setting up his new classroom (he is moving to Jr. High!!) I will have to register for classes and go to work a couple of days, but then we are headed to San Diego for the holiday weekend. We might visit Lego Land, but we will certainly be hanging out by the pool and visiting the beach!

Summer seems to be slipping away, but we are really enjoying it.... Fall will be here soon and we will move into the school year, but for now... I am going to enjoy a fruity drink and some time with my family.

What's the worst that could happen?

Trying to regain my center and find some balance has not been easy around here. After my last post, I did finish my last assignment and went off to school feeling really great. I turned in everything that afternoon, some assignments a day early and some a whole week early! (you learn a few things in your "older" age). Andy and I had a rough weekend, getting on each others nerves and fighting over stupid stuff... I think it was just everything from the last 6 weeks coming to a head. We were both trying to figure out how to re-shift all of the jobs and responsibilities. We had a good talk and settled a lot of things and the rest of the weekend was good. We rested and went to a pool party (torture for Gavin in his splint) and headed to his parent's house for our Sunday dinner visit. I got to cook, which I haven't done in 6 weeks! I even made a pineapple upside down cake for dessert.. yum!

The week started out smoothly enough. I had big plans for my week off.. mani/pedi, dr. appt that I have put off for 8 months (you know the one), scrapbooking, reading by the pool, my list goes on... Gavin begged to go back t Broadoaks for the week and we happily obliged thinking that we might even get some grown up time together while both kids were at day camp! We had a date planned for Wednesday... out to breakfast and a 10 a.m. movie...

Boy.. did I have it all wrong!

Tuesday, Gavin could not go to camp because he had his follow up appointment and xrays. We waited a while and when they did the xray, my stomach dropped into my toes. I am no Dr., but what I saw was horrible. I turned to Andy and mouthed, "He is going to need surgery." Of course, we both thought that I was exaggerating (I do that, ya know) The entire tip of his ulna was shirred off on one side and it was slightly displaced. It really did look bad.

The xray is backwards but you can see, even in this grainy copy how bad the break is!

We saw the Physician's Assistant who told us that this was an uncommon break and that it would more than likely need surgery. Then my heart did a flip because I had HOPED that I WAS just exaggerating... but.... The Pediatric Orthopedic surgeons were not available to see us, one was in surgery and the other was on vacation, so they would re-splint his arm, the Dr's would look at his films, conference and then get back to us later in the day. We left, feeling hopeful that maybe there would be no surgery. We went out to lunch and took Gavin to see Wal-e (is that how they spell it?).

Gavin had soccer practice that day too, and he did drills and had a great time, acting like there was nothing wrong with his REALLY broken arm. The Dr. called during practice and told me that Gavin would need surgery and that it needed to be soon. She asked if we could be at the hospital at 6 a.m. the next day (there went our date). I said of course, started shaking and wrote down everything she said. We went home, made arrangements for Ella and packed up a bag. That night I cuddled Gavin and stayed with him in his bed until he fell asleep.

I woke up at 4:30 the next morning and we left the house by 5 a.m. We dropped off Ella at Jack and Sharon's house (they would take her to and pick her up from school) and headed to Kaiser in Bellflower. Gavin was strangely calm. We got admitted and waited in a little room for an hour and then the action began... a stream of docs, nurses, etc came in and talked to us and that is when Gavin lost it. He asked me to take him to the bathroom and once I closed the door, he started to cry and begged me to just take him home. I calmed him down and we went back in to listen to the Dr. tell us about the procedure. They gave Gavin some drugs to calm him down (thank goodness) and then off he went. Andy and I had our breakfast date on the hospital patio and I caught up on the magazine reading that I had fallen behind on during school.
The calm, before the storm...note his cozy and GIGANTIC Broncos sweatshirt.

About an hour and 45 minutes later, the Dr. came out and told us that all had went smoothly and that she had put in two screws to hold the bone in place. He could come back in a week and she would check the incision and either re-splint or cast him. He would only have to wear the cast for 2 weeks. We asked about options and she decided to have him in earlier, on Monday and that she would put on a WATER PROOF cast! Hooray! I went in to the recovery area and he was so confused and disoriented.. this was the worst. He was crying and asking if I could get him out of there.... finally he settled down and went to sleep. After an hour, we got to go back to our room and Andy could come in.




Screwed back together, resting quietly with Teddy and a
photo op with mom. My sticker says, "Hug Me! I was brave!"

Gavin was fine... he was hungry and wanted to play his Gameboy. We waited a couple of hours, ate a sandwich, watched Gavin sleep and were able to leave the hospital at 3:00 p.m. On the way out, Gavin spotted Del Taco and asked if he could have a burrito. He ate the whole thing!

We got home and it all hit me like a ton of bricks. School, the surgery... all of it... I took a nap and ate dinner and went to bed. Luckily Gavin slept well all night (thank you codeine). The next day he was up and running around like nothing had happened. It was quite an ordeal, but everything has worked out. Gavin is excited to get his cast on Monday and hopes that it comes in "coral", but "teal" would be o.k. with him too.

I didn't get to do most of the things on my list, but I did read, I did have time with Andy and I did get that mani/pedi! I also got to have dinner with friends and go to Dream Dinners to make my meals for August and September. We are now officially on vacation.. it's a "stay-cation" and we are looking forward to some down time, some together time and a fun time. I'll keep you "posted".