random sights...

as i was switching out my disposable lenses to a fresh pair on december 15th, it occurred to me that those contacts have seen A LOT in the last two months... and they've been a filter for A LOT of tears (yeah, this isn't really starting out as "feel good" piece... fair warning... it might get better, but i won't know til the end... )

i first put these contacts in my eyes on saturday, october 15th, not an especially eventful day, except for one email from my dad... containing devastating news... his psa level was up around 7000... "off the charts" according to his doctor.  he's been battling prostate cancer for almost 6 years, and the cancer had spread to his bones and there was no getting rid of it or even keeping it under control anymore... against all of the treatments (prostatectomy, two bouts of radiation, agressive hormone therapies), the cancer was winning, and my dad had decided to "let nature take its course."  :'(  problem was, he lived in a remote mountain town in the sierra nevadas of california, with difficult access to medical services... sooo...

i scheduled and booked a trip to go down and see him on october 27th... then, on october 18th he calls to say "how flexible is your schedule?"  turns out he wanted to move the trip out a week or two and turn my visit into me going down there to help him move up here to washington... so we rebooked everything for a week later.  i was to fly down on november 3rd, pack up all of his stuff into his car and take two days to drive back to washington...

october 17th was your typical work day, BUT i did get to see my vegas girls (we call ourselves that because back in the day we used to all go to vegas together once or twice a year... but that seems to have ceased as of about 4 years ago...)  we got together for a birthday celebration, and it was great to see some friends who have moved away... good day!

october 23rd... another good day!  darbey and i went to see roman holiday on the big screen (it's the first movie of a 3-movie audrey hepburn movie series series :)  roman holiday is my FAVORITE audrey hepburn movie :)

october 26th:  my niece, kyana, had her 3rd baby... a sweet little boy named ahviel elias... congrats kyana and pete!!

then, october 27th happened... the day i was originally supposed to be flying away, leaving my kids here to hold down the fort and take care of the dogs... thank goodness the travel dates changed, because on october 27th, while the kids were at school, and i was working at home, around 10:30am, two guys tried (unsuccessfully) to break into my house... probably the scariest day of my life thus far... the police were called, and as far as i know, the guys were never caught, although they had attempted a break-in a few blocks away just 20 minutes before the police got my call (same description of guys and car.)  and now, in the midst of being freaked out, and unable to sleep or eat, i knew that in just one week, i really was going to have to fly away, leaving my kids here... alone... to hold down the fort and take care of the dogs... so i went into panic mode... i hit up the sportsmen's store and stockpiled pepper spray; i contemplated buying a shotgun; i bugged the security company daily to get them to come out as soon as possible to activate the security system; i talked to the kids to make sure they were comfortable staying here alone while i went and retrieved my dad... all of this on very little sleep or sustenance of any kind...

also going on during this time, was me trying to secure a place for my dad to live (he absolutely refused to live with us,) make sure it was furnished, and stocked with the everyday things one needs... he was bringing very little with him, just what we could fit into his suv, so there was a lot to do...

on november 3rd, i was set and ready to go... bags packed, kids settled, alarm activated, pepper spray in every single room of the house... i saw the kids off to school that morning with big hugs and tears in my eyes while THEY assured ME they would be fine... i wasn't fine... i was leaving them home alone just a week after someone had tried to break in... and i had to go get on airplane... and i hate flying... so at about 12:30pm, the shuttle express shows up to transport me to the airport and i walk out to see a LIMO parked in my driveway ?????  ummm, i definitely didn't order a limo... apparently that's what they had available, so i was getting a FREE upgrade, which seems like it would be pretty cool, but to be honest, i'm not really limo material, unless it's a wedding party, or a bunch of us girls in vegas...  being all by yourself in the way back of limo is... awkward... unless you're donald trump, i suppose...

november 3rd-5th:  getting my dad here was a whole event unto itself... you can read about it here...

november 13th... another good day.  breakfast at tiffany's on the big screen (the second movie of the 3-movie audrey hepburn movie series series.)  my favorite quote from this movie "It should take you exactly four seconds to cross from here to that door. I'll give you two." :)

november 14th... another good day!  i got to meet up with two of my good friends over some cheese and chocolate fondue at the melting pot  happy hour (the cheese and chocolate were separate :) and the conversation was GREAT!  i am super thankful for all the great friends i have...

november 17th-19th:  much less great... i flew to idaho (on short notice) to be with my mom while dealing with her husband's illnesses... oliver middlebrooks (my stepdad) passed away on november 18th with his wife of 24 years (my mom), his son, curtis, and me sitting by his side... he is greatly missed by a great many people... go here for a video montage...

november 24th (thanksgiving):  we had a fun and casual thanksgiving dinner at my house with my kids, my dad, my friend mary beth and her kids, and my friend dana and her kids.... and at some point we thought it might be a good idea to try to hit up wal-mart for the black friday stuff at 10pm... after sitting in traffic for 45 minutes, we canned that idea and went home :)  going home was the best plan EVER!

november 26th:  my niece, mikaela's baby shower!  we have been waiting to meet her little bundle of joy...  mikena kaleia arrived (finally!) on december 16th, after 25 hours of labor (but that's a new pair of contacts :)

november 29th:  my uncle harry (my mom's brother) passed away after being diagnosed with cancer only two weeks before... i'll miss you uncle harry!

december 3rd:  winterfest!  good beer... but note to self, there is never any need for me to buy more tokens than the ones allocated with the entrance fee...  drinking too much beer could cause you to pass out in the public restrooom of a pizza joint (hypothetically speaking, of course.)

december 8th:  darbey's high school of the arts, dance concert - first time i've ever seen my daughter do the splits - amazing!

december 15th:  new contacts!  new things to see...  until next time...

random memories of oliver...

i remember the day my mom called to tell me about this wonderful man she met on a bus tour... and that was the beginning of their story...

they got engaged and were married on january 21, 1988 at the museum of flight in seattle... oliver was fascinated by all sorts of transportation, and was a pilot for a time, making the museum of flight the perfect location... but the perfection of the wedding location wasn't what mattered here... my mom and oliver found something that few people ever find in life, perfect love.

oliver middlebrooks, jr. passed away on november 18, 2011 (just a couple months shy of his 84th birthday) at 10:22pm... he was surrounded by my mom, helen middlebrooks, his son, curtis, me, and one of his hospice caretakers when he took his last quiet, peaceful breath...

he was an amazing man, full of spirit and joy and curiosity about seemingly everything... he became a part of my family that day in 1988, and there was no way not to love and appreciate him... even though i had already moved out on my own, he was always there for me, and once i had kids, he was grandpa oliver to them... but more importantly, he was there for my mom... i'm thankful every day for the wonderful 25 years she had with him...

turn on your speakers and enjoy this photo montage of some of those 25 years...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD5vUzijNgo

random daddy issues...

my dad, doug, orion and darbey in the summer of (i'm guessing) 1999?

ha... no, not THOSE kinda daddy issues :)  mine involve the whole arduous process of moving my father from his small town (we're talking population 900ish) in california up here to washington state... all in a matter of about two weeks... whew.

first thing that had to happen was to find the man a place to live... so apartment hunting ensued... i was looking for inexpensive rent, but it turns out that the cheap apartment complexes are seriously G.R.O.S.S.  i wouldn't wish a place like that on my worst enemy... G.R.O.S.S.     but... finally found him a place close by... did you know that trying to rent an apartment for someone else is nearly impossible?  it was a fight at every turn, i mean, i'm glad things are electronic now, cuz that helped speed some things up, but we're talking about a 75-year-old man here... electronics are not his forte...  and there was only one chick in the leasing office who wasn't annoying... or a bitch...  but nonetheless... apartment leased... check.

next up, furniture... he decided to go with rental furniture so (a) he didn't have to figure out how to move his furniture from cali to here; and (b) when he's done with it, the rental company can just come and take it away... no trying to find people with trucks and muscles and stuff... so, furniture picked out, ordered, and delivered... check.

next up, get my dad (and the stuff he's bringing with him) here... and so starts three difficult and trying days... so, the plan was for me to fly into reno, have his friends pick me up at the airport and drive me to his house (about a 2-hour drive down parts of nevada and into the eastern border of california... a way up in the sierra nevada mountains...)  followed by my dad and i packing his SUV full of everything he's bringing and setting off on two 9-hour days of driving back to washington...

so, the flight... i hate flying... hate it... i should've brought drugs, or alcohol, or both... but i didn't, and reno was having a major windstorm, so the landing was something akin to a hellish rollercoaster ride... i hate rollercoasters... hate them... so... i LOST it... there was hyperventilating... there were tears... there were well-meaning people around me trying to calm me down, telling me to "imagine i was somewhere peaceful"... yeah, none of that worked... tears were still streaming down my face and my knuckles were completely white from death-gripping the arms of the seat... fortunately, the plane landed safely on the earth, and i was probably not ever in any real danger... but my logical mind doesn't ever stick around to help me through things like that, so i ended up making a complete fool of myself... anyhow...  flight...  check.

on my way to the baggage claim, i ran into my dad's friends (who were there to pick me up), which saved me a lot of phone calling and searching and stuff... so we grabbed my suitcase and off we went on the 2-hour drive to bridgeport (california... not connecticut) which was interrupted briefly by a stop for chinese food... where i ate WAY too much... and my dad's friends (who also happen to be married to each other... with strong hungarian accents... in their 70s... and my dad's landlords for the past 20-some-odd years...) were making jokes about the tapioca... i'm fairly sure there was a comment about 'that pudding with the little balls' that started a wave of 'balls' jokes... and while i share many a 'balls' joke with my kids and friends, i'm not used to sharing 'balls' jokes with people in their 70s, which made the whole thing even funnier... good times... good times...  drive to bridgeport... check.

holy cow... my dad's apartment was a M.E.S.S.!  he had the pile that was going to be traveling with us... and then there was everything else... he had a couple boxes of pictures and stuff, and some dvd's and cd's for me to go through to see what i wanted, so i did that that night and then hit the hay... long long day... check.

friday morning it was up and at 'em at 6am... all of his buddies were coming by at 8am to help pack up the SUV, and bonus... it was snowing... if you know me, you know i don't do snow, and i especially don't drive in snow... well, except for that day, apparently... goody... more white knuckles... we hit the road about 9am... made a couple of stops... and proceeded cautiously up the 395... fortunately, the snow only lasted about 30 miles and the rest of the drive to yreka, california, was free and clear... in fact it was like 56 degrees in yreka in the late afternoon... we were thankfully past any more danger of snow driving... or so we thought...

saturday morning... guess what was falling out of the sky?  oh yeah... more snow... are you effing kidding me with this?  this time it lasted until we got off the mountain that ashland, oregon is on... and up at ashland, there was about 2 feet of visibility... i should've probably been wearing diapers cuz i was close to pooping myself... could this trip be any more terrifying?  well, as with the flight... and the drive on friday... we made it back home... safe and sound and alive... but with far less hair (and the hair that was left was decidely greyer than it had been just three short days before)  home... check.

it has now been a week since i started out on this journey and my dad is all moved in and mostly settled into his new little apartment, much closer to us, which is awesome, cuz we can finally spend some real quality time with him... welcome to your new home, daddy :)

random gun musings...

holy bullets, batman... i guess i sort of knew in the back of my mind that "guns" were a semi-hot topic... not so much in my sheltered world, necessarily, but after posting on facebook that i was contemplating buying a winchester shotgun, it became clear that "guns" were in the category of "religion" and "politics" when it comes to people's opinions on the subject...

for me, i pretty much feel the same way about all of these topics... i have my opinions, and i don't feel the need to impose or persuade others to agree with me... partly because i don't feel i have enough information to really argue a valid point on any of these subjects, but mostly because i hate (and yes, i do mean "hate") when other people try to force their opinions on me... i'm a "live and let live" kinda girl...

anyhoo... i don't think i've received so much attention on a post or comment EVER in my life... and everybody seems to be adamant one way or the other... either "go for it!  get a gun, girl!" or "absolutely don't do it!"

now, my entire life has been gun free, not by any kind of conscious choice, i just didn't grow up around guns... or people using guns... tbh, guns always scared me, they still do, and i realize that this fear is based solely on the fact that i know NOTHING about guns, but after an attempted break-in to my house (while i was home - a crazy scary experience to say the least) two days ago, it got me thinking that having a gun would've made me feel much more in control of the situation, and not so reliant on the police showing up and doing something to stop it... thankfully, they left before successfully breaking in, but if they had made it into my house, there was no way i was prepared to do anything to protect myself from these two men, and that TERRIFIED me... TERRIFIES me, still.

i like to think i'm a fairly rational person, and i realize that i went straight to getting a gun as a major reaction to what had just happened, but i also stocked the house, myself, and my kids with pepper spray... and i activated the security system, and i have definitely started thinking about actually having plans for what we would do should somebody actually breach our secure little world, so in that respect, perhaps something good has come from this... it does make me feel better knowing i at least have a plan for some kind of control over a horrifying situation...

but, i digress... i have not yet completely decided on the gun idea, but i am definitely still thinking about it... i have one kid who is dead-set against it, and one kid who is ok with the idea, but since neither of them (like me) have ever been around guns, i can understand the hesitation and fear... i feel it too... but i'm beginning to think i'd like to at least see what it's all about, instead of just blanket dismissing the idea.

so on that front, i spent about four hours this morning researching the topics of "guns in homes."  some of it was peoples' opinions, some of it was statistics (which don't in and of themselves ever convince me of anything since statistics can be skewed or presented in a way to make anybody's point about anything... and quite often don't include the opposing side's converse stats) and this is what i found:

(1)  (opinion)  guns in homes was just fine as long as everybody is educated and taught respect and things were locked up in various places for safety...
(2)  (statistic)  guns in homes created conditions where homicides and suicides were greatly increased in those homes...
(3)  (opinion)  guns in homes are just too scary and not worth the worry of previous statistics...
(4)  (opinion)  people who agree with guns in their homes for protection feel more empowered and capable of protecting themselves and their family...
(5)  (opinion)  people who don't agree with guns in their homes for protection (or really for any reason) feel like they are either an accident waiting to happen, or a convenient tool too readily available for someone who might have an irrational moment...

here's what i couldn't find:

(1)  (statistic)  how many home invasions were prevented because the intended victim brandished a gun in self-defense... i'm assuming this kind of thing would never make the news, or any kind of statistic-gathering organization, especially if the incident was never reported to the police...
(2)  (statistic)  how many (or few) times a victim had to actually fire their gun at a home invader, as opposed to just making its presence known...

much of this information was terrifying and sad to read about, but as i was reading it, all i could think was that the majority of these cases were anecdotal, and included many outside factors such as guns not being locked up in homes with small children; people in the house who were not educated or taught to respect or use guns; and/or guns in the homes of people who have or had depression or alcohol or drug dependencies...  a major argument for the case against guns in the home was that people are human, and make mistakes, and that the outcome of some gun-owners mistakes was just not worth the risk... i can see their point here, but...

i am still on the fence about the issue, and intend to go with some friends to a shooting range, and possibly take some gun safety and training classes before i ever purchase a gun, but this is what i do know...

if i had a shotgun two days ago, and those two men had managed to kick down my front door, they either wouldn't have stuck around after i cocked it, or they would've been severely injured (or worse...)

and  i would've been ok with either scenario...

if you have any opinions, anecdotes, statistics, or whatever to share on the topic, please comment below... as i am still in the research stages, i'd like to hear what people have to say on the matter...  no judgement...

random exercism... days 11-30

this is not me... just someone pretending to be me...

so, i got kinda lazy in the blogging department, but NOT lazy in the exercise department :)  that's why you're getting the 411 for the last 20+ days all in one blog post... if you haven't seen days 1-10, you can read it here:  http://randomliana.blogspot.com/2011/09/random-exercism-days-1-10.html

DAYS 11-20

ok, so remember from my 1st "random exercism" post, by 10 days, i really mean 10 workouts, which are 6 days on and 1 day off...

i've completely given up on the dance cardio video... it's stupid... the music is stupid... and i may as well just jump around randomly waving my arms about for the same effect... soooo... i've had to get REALLY disciplined about hitting the gym for the elliptical, and i'm proud to say, i've been rocking it for at least 45 minutes to an hour, six days a week... yay cardio!

then for the muscle toning dvd workout... the days 11-20 workout was about three times as hard as days 1-10... holy butt pain, batman!  but i muscled through and did all 10 days... needless to say i was ready for the switch to the days 21-30 workout, even though odds were it was gonna be much harder...

here's my day 20 numbers:

weight - 143

total measurements (in inches) - 138

so i've lost 2 pounds since day 10, and 6 pounds overall, and my measurements have gone down an inch since the initial measure... so far so good...

DAYS 21-30

ok, so for cardio, i've bumped up my elliptical to at least an hour, six days a week, and upped the resistance as well :)

the days 21-30 muscle toning dvd workout has been my favorite of the three i've done so far... it's hard, but i was able to get through all of the exercises from the first day... hopefully because i'm stronger from the first 20 days, and not because it's just easier... i wonder what days 31-40 have in store for me?

here's my day 30 numbers:

weight - 141

total measurements (in inches) - 137

so i've lost 2 more pounds since day 20 (8 pounds overall!)  My measurements have gone down two inches since the initial measure... so far so good!

Next update will be after the next 30 days (somewhere around Day 60)


#gettingfit

random brews...

recently, i attended the tacoma craft beer festival with a couple of my girlfriends... it was a crazy, fun time, to be sure!  but besides all the other obvious beer festphernalia (the little taster glasses, pretzel necklaces, and your basic jolly beer-appreciating drunkard) we noticed several clever beer-related t-shirts... this prompted the usually shy me to walk up to complete strangers and ask if i could take a picture of their shirt... i was super proud of myself :)  so here ya go... it's like walkin' around a beer fest in blog form...

"I used to think drinking was bad for me... so I gave up thinking."   and   "BEER   It's what's for dinner"

"I'm working on my SIX PACK"

"The Beeriodic Table"

"This beer is making me awesome!"

"Beauty lies in the hand of the beerholder"   and   "Do you believe in love at first sight... or do I have to buy you another beer?"   and   "got beer?"

"Beer Knurd"

"In dog beers, I've only had one"

"My life is a very complicated drinking game."

"Good Beer"

"DRUNK - Warning:  Explicit lyrics, slurred speech, and highly sexually aggressive."

on the hat it says "GIRL BEER"

"Now it's time for my real job - getting loaded!  (Modern Drunkard Magazine)"

"I need a BEER"

and my favorite... yet, not beer related...

wait for it.....

thanks to mary beth and denise for giving this guy a hand with his shirt :)

next up:  Fremont Oktoberfest!

#beerme

random exercism... days 1-10

ok, so i'm probably not alone in this, but i get really bored with the same old workouts...  i'm always trying new stuff... i've done the traditional cardio/weights routine, aerobics classes, yoga, hot yoga, pilates, walking, running, dance classes, zumba, and several of those workout regimes you see on infomercials - p90x, 10-minute trainer, yoga booty ballet, slim in 6, winsor pilates, tae-bo, richard simmons workouts, jane fonda workouts, and many, many more over the years... my current commitment is tracy anderson's metamorphosis, a 90-day program that includes 30 minutes of tracy's dance cardio and 30ish minutes of muscle toning... the muscle toning workouts switch up every 10 days... i've made it through the initial 10 days and thought i'd blog about it, in part because it creates a sort of accountability for me... thanks for your help...  it starts out by having you take your weight and measurements of course, and then taking them again every 10 days to see your progress...

tracy anderson... seriously killer body... will i look like this at the end of 90 days??

here's my initial numbers prior to starting day 1:

weight - 149 (how brave am i posting this??)

total measurements (in inches) - 139 (i'm not going into detail here of the specific separate measurements of chest, waist, hips, thighs and arms... nope, not gonna do it :)

DAYS 1-10

ok, so by 10 days, i really mean 10 workouts, which are 6 days on and 1 day off... and MY days 1-10 also included some days as a parent volunteer at camp and some other days where i did massive amounts of housework and yardwork, which are both things i count as workouts, but did not include in them in my "official" metamorphosis day counts... so basically, if i missed a day or two, i picked up where i left off so i actually did the metamorphosis muscle toning routine 10 times...

i've only done the dance cardio video about 3 times... i've decided to make it my "backup' cardio because (a) it's a lot of jumping around and my old knees and hips hate it! and (b) the music that comes with it does NOT inspire me...  instead, i drag my butt to the gym and get my cardio in on any of the various pieces of equipment there... elliptical, treadmill, etc... my fav is the elliptical... on super high resistance and incline... this i do for around 45 minutes... then home to do the muscle toning dvd...

holy muscle pain, this day 1-10 workout is all kinds of crazy hard, most especially the butt and legs portion... i'm thinking if i keep this up, i should have the best ass on the western seaboard in 90 days!  but i'm terrified about the next 8 workouts because if this inital one is so hard, they're probably not gonna get any easier right??  yikes.

here's my day 10 numbers:

weight - 145

total measurements (in inches) - 140.5

huh?  so i lost 4 pounds, but my measurements went up by an inch and a half?  hmmm...  well, time to see what the next 10 workouts will bring...

#gettingfit

random camping... part b...

continued from previous post...

WHERE DID I LEAVE OFF?

oh yeah, getting a good night's sleep instead of walking around a creepy, dark, campground in the middle of the night...

CAMP - DAY TWO

katy's butt...

what... a wonderful night... slept like a baby, didn't have to wake up for a 3am night patrol shift... had my own bedroom and bathroom all to myself... i could get used to THIS kind of camping!  big stretch.... up and showered... and just enough time to hit the latte stand before breakfast (yes, they had one at this camp - it wasn't Starbucks, but it was better than the coffee in the staff lounge or the dining hall...) ran into the darbs and some of her friends, so we hung outside drinking our coffee and taking random pictures... i've included one of katy's butt here... cute yoga pants, right??

then off to the dining hall for breakfast... gag... the food there sucks BIG TIME!  so back to the latte stand for a 2nd coffee (what?  there's protein in soy milk!!)  and another parent meeting... this time we were assigned our positions for that evening's activities which included another showcase, followed by either a movie in the tabernacle or karaoke in the gym, so all of us parents were assigned spots to keep all the kids within the "perimeter" between and around the two designated areas... my assigned spot was BEHIND (and outside) the tabernacle building... so i walk back there with my flashlight and it is DARK... and CREEPY... and nobody else is back there but me... oh hell no... not staying back there for two hours (or two minutes, for that matter...) i planted my butt INSIDE the tabernacle, right in the front row, and watched the feature presentation...  i mean, i was watching to make sure none of the kids ran out the back door (behind the screen) cuz i would've totally chased 'em down...  but i digress...

some canoeing action...

after breakfast and the parent meeting, i had absolutely nothing to do until lunch... in fact, this whole entire day i had nothing to do except mealtimes and the evening activities... BORING!  being a cabin leader was REALLY looking like a much better option at this point... so this is how i spent my day... napping, reading, walking around taking pictures of the camp, just sitting on the dock down by the lake, reading some more, walking around some more, hanging around with darbey and her friends for a bit, sitting in the staff lounge quietly listening to all the interesting conversations, more napping, more reading, wondering if this day will ever end...  and FINALLY...


SHOWCASE - NIGHT TWO

puppet pals

i was really looking forward to this because showcase the night before was SO good!  the whole thing opened up with a bunch of the kids parodying the potter puppet pals, with the teachers as the puppets... it was funny even if you weren't familiar with the potter puppet pals, but it was HILARIOUS if you were familiar with the potter puppet pals :D

the kid that looked like justin bieber

then, just like the night before, there was all kinds of amazing talent displayed... here's the kid that looked like justin bieber... he actually danced to a justin bieber song... and if you know my daughter, you know i had to get a picture of this guy.




and the closing act of showcase this night was SOTA's other main rock band, Roswell... AMAZING!  and even though there were just as many warnings against mosh pits and crowd surfing, i did see at least one kid get "surfed".

roswell

check them out here http://www.reverbnation.com/roswelltheband  their song Bells, is seriously addicting!

MOVIE NIGHT
so... since i stationed myself inside the tabernacle for movie night, i kicked back to enjoy Mean Girls with a room full of teenagers... now that was an experience... lots of interesting comments being shouted out during various scenes...

AFTER THE EVENING ACTIVITIES
i should point out here that we (the parent volunteers) were all warned at the morning parent meeting that night two of camp includes all kinds of ruckus by the seniors, and usually a few "senior pranks" and the ringing of the camp bell... as we were leaving the tabernacle, we could hear some seriously loud rock music coming from the direction of the gym... turns out this was one of the "senior pranks"... Rooftop Warrior (the rock back from showcase - night one) had somehow gotten a hold of the u-haul truck they use for all the luggage and set up their own little rock concert in the back of it... it was pretty cool, actually :)  but got shut down fairly quickly... then we were trying to get all the kids back to their cabins... knowing full well there would be seniors sneaking out for more ruckus all through the night...

so here's what happened...

somewhere around midnight, a game of "capture the flag" broke out in the field... all of the seniors had warpaint on their faces and the bell got rung so many times, the camp people finally cut the rope on the thing... once that settled down, a whole group of senior boys snuck out again and went around screaming and banging on cabins and such...  all of this happened... while i was snug and warm in my bed :)  i could hear it all, but it didn't bother me in the least... although i guess some of the camp workers (who live at the camp during the season) called the cops... oopsie.

CAMP - DAY THREE (otherwise known as "go home" day)
i skipped breakfast at the dining hall and went straight for the latte stand... packed up my stuff, attended the final parent meeting to get my bus assignment, and waited patiently for the buses to arrive to bring us home... this time i was assigned Bus 8... and i just have to say that the bus ride home was SO quiet... tired kids on a bus going home from camp is much easier to chaperone than hopped up kids on their way to camp... once we made it home home, i pretty much slept the entire rest of the day... thank goodness there was still a 3-day weekend ahead, cuz i needed to recover!

bus 1 of 11 here to take us home...

NEXT YEAR

i think i wanna go back, but definitely be assigned to a cabin and some kids... i wonder if the crazy will wear off before i have to officially sign up to volunteer for next year?  we shall see...

#supertired

random camping... part one...

VOLUNTEERING?  REALLY??
so, yeah, i've never been much in the department of volunteering at the kids' school, but for some reason, i got it into my head to sign up for all these damn things this year... one of these damn things was to be a parent chaperone at my daughter's school's camp...  she goes to this weird artsy high school, and their first official three days of school take place at a summer camp... now, those of you that know me, know i am really not the outdoorsy type... especially when the outdoorsiness involves sleeping outdoors (this includes tents, for those of you who might be inclined to argue that point...)  i want a real bed to sleep in, with some indoor plumbing and such so that my shower does not have to take place in either one of those icky campground community bathrooms... or a freezing cold lake...  nonetheless, i found myself hitting 'send' on an email that said "heck yes!  sign me up!!"  that's when the dread set in.  what had i done?  and why had i done it??

not to worry, my daughter said (even though she was all like "who are you? and what have you done with my mother??' when i told her i volunteered) "they set up all the girls in the nice cabins, with in-room bathrooms... and they put the boys in the tee-pees and wagons, which suck..."  ok, cool, i can probably handle that... and out the door i head to the mandatory parent volunteer training and orientation...

VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION

One of the wagons.. in fact, THE wagon, darbey had to sleep in...

this is what i heard... blah blah blah "kids..."  blah blah blah "mealtimes..."  blah blah blah "bus ride..."  blah blah blah "and this year we've decided to switch things up and put the boys in the nice cabins and the girls in the tee-pees and wagons... doesn't that sound like fun?!?"  ummm, NOOOO!!!  what the h-e-double-hockeysticks had i gotten myself into this time?  and darbey (who got her outdoorsy camping gene directly from me) was also not going to be thrilled by this exciting news... and then i heard... blah blah blah "if you're on night patrol, we put you up in this nice HOUSE!"  now we're talkin'!  ok... crossing off cabin and signing up for night patrol!  might as well save one of us :)

CAMP - DAY ONE
day one was cuhhhrazzzyyyy... beginning with the whole check-in process... a bunch of us parents lined up on one side of this long table, with our lists in hand... and throngs of students piled up on the other side (sort of) patiently waiting their turn to check-in... what was scheduled to be a 40 minute process took almost two hours... i have a few suggestions for next year, but as i was told, if it was organized, it wouldn't be SOTA (School of the Arts)... well, alright then.

so, check-in complete, time for our next task... loading the buses... i was assigned to bus 3 with this other mom, and my first job was to hold up the piece of paper that said "BUS THREE" for... ever... she was taking charge of checking kids' names before they got on the bus... once all our kids were present and accounted for, it was clear there were no seats left for one, let alone both, of us parents... lucky me, she was super-quick and got the hell outta dodge, so there i was, cramming into a bus bench made for two, with darbey and her friend derek... well, to be fair, only my left butt cheek was crammed onto the seat.. with the right side left to fend for itself in the aisleway...

in case you were wondering, riding this way on a school bus is EXTREMELY uncomfortable... and we had about a 45-minute ride ahead of us... or so we thought...

two-plus hours, and MANY wrong turns and turn-arounds later, we (officially dubbed "THE LOST BUS") finally arrived at camp... starving... just in time for lunch to be over... awesome.

black lake...

now, most of the parent volunteers had to find their first instructional block, but i thought i'd go scout out my house and pick my room... S-C-O-R-E!  i got the master bedroom, the only room in the house with it's own bathroom... and a lovely view of the lake out the window... things were beginning to look up!

the next stop was the parent meeting... where my night patrol shift was assigned... 3am-5am... yep, i was gonna have to walk around that dark campground in the middle of the night... suddenly visions of jason, his hockey mask, and his machete were flashing through my brain... and i couldn't remember if he ever died!  wagons and tee-pees were sounding much better now... but that wasn't happening, so i went back to my room, unpacked and settled in for a nap before the evening activities...

SHOWCASE - NIGHT ONE
can i just say, OMG!!  ok, backing up a few steps... what is showcase, you ask??  well, i think i may have mentioned before that this is an ARTS high school, and showcase is designed to, well, showcase, the students' performing arts of choice... this right here made the whole camp experience worth all of the aforementioned hassles... ok, so back to OMG!!  there's some seriously great talent at that school, and such a variety... there were singer/songwriters (wrote their own songs, sang them, and accompanied themselves on guitar or keyboard); hip-hop dancing (darbey got up on stage for this one!); classical violin solo; a sax performance (in the style of dave koz); and much more...

and topping off showcase night one, was one of SOTA's main rock bands, Rooftop Warrior... they played three songs amidst somewhere in the neighborhood of 427 warnings against mosh pits and crowd surfing... they were pretty awesome... check 'em out here... http://www.reverbnation.com/rooftopwarrior

Rooftop Warrior

and that was day one... now off to my room to nap a bit before my 3am night patrol shift....

buzz buzz... buzz buzz... what the??  who's texting me at midnight??  oh, that would be the co-director of the school calling all the night patrol parents over to the staff lounge for a quick meeting... so, off i go, trodding through the woods in my p-jams and baseball hat... super annoyed... until i got there and they told me they won't be needing a 3am-5am patrol and i can just go on back to sleep for the rest of the night!  (insert happy happy joy joy dance here) oh, i think i can get used to this kinda night patrolling :D  so back to bed i go with nary a worry about jason's whereabouts...

to be continued...

#camprock

random runnings...

so this morning i woke up early and headed on down into the kent valley to our local horse race track... i'm not a gambler... nobody's ever known me to bet on the ponies... what the h??  turns out there was a 5K going on... The Smith Brothers' Farm Inaugural Milkman 5000 Road Race.. now what cows have to do with horses, I have no clue, but there we were... ready to run... hoping to make it all the way to the end where the chocolate milk was waiting (gag.)

how did i do, you may ask?  well, it wasn't great... i have done almost no training all summer, and my only saving grace was that this particular race was an all flat course... except for that last mile... well it was theoretically flat (meaning no uphills or downhills to worry about...)  what it was, though, was the actual racetrack... the one the horse's race on... in that soft, fluffy, dirt/horse poop combo... it was almost worse than running on dry sand... and i'm blaming it on my pbt going UP by 6 minutes... ugh.

here's my view from way out on the racetrack... the finish line was over by the building!!

so, i guess i can't COMPLETELY blame the race track, cuz here's this guy in front of me, on the  paved section of the race... yeah, he beat me... i suck.

there was also a 75-year-old man there who ran the whole thing in about 25 minutes... yeah, he beat me too... i suck.

so a pathetic 42 minutes later, i crossed the finish line... skipped the chocolate milk, and went straight for the bagels and water and was off to find my friends who did MUCH better than i did :)  thanks for waiting for me Joe and Tom!!

joe, liana, and tom... post race :)

now it's time for me to find the next race on my docket...

#trainingmatters

random ziggers... part two...

ok... it's been almost two weeks now and the ziggers is finally starting to settle in and become part of the fam damily, but we definitely have some training to do... is it really true that you can't teach an old dog new tricks?  god, i hope not....

here he is, giving orion a run for his money on the hardwood:



(featuring the recording and editing talents of darbey)

#ilovedogs

random mondays...

why are some mondays so... mondayish??  i mean seriously, they really live up to their name... that was today... a day i am now deeming "hot mess monday"

now, i'm pretty sure there is only one way for a "hot mess monday" to start, and that's with waking up... late... check.

next, you need to have at least three unexpected (and time consuming) things happen that you clearly (due to waking up late) don't have time for...

1. the dog REFUSES to go outside...
2. your hair REFUSES to look good... no matter how many times you try to fix it...
3. you are out of gas... 

check... check... and check...

after all of that, when you FINALLY get your butt on the road, just today (hot mess monday) it would seem that everyone who forgot to do their leisurely sunday driving yesterday, is out doing it this morning... in the fast lane... check.  (bonus:   after i was able to pass this douchebag, i got flipped off... so double check.)

now, it's 9:29am and you are supposed to be running a meeting at 9:30am... and you are still on the freeway... check.

and your phone is buried somewhere in your computer bag, making it impossible, or at least death-defying, to retrieve it and call somebody... check.

so, you have finally made it to the conference room... late... and, of course, there's your boss waiting for the afore-mentioned meeting... check.

and, the conference room you're in has some crazy space-aged system where every damn thing is controlled by the amazing crestron (it's actually kinda cool, cuz it controls the lights, the phones, the computers, the projectors, and a bunch of other tech-y stuffs)  BUT, you need to have the password to log on... which you have, except that the password has been changed, and nobody has bothered to communicate that information to you...  check.

and the piece of paper with the name of the people who can actually help in this situation is back at home... check.

so you have to call and wake up your son to see if he can find this random piece of paper amongst all the other junk, magazines, catalogs, unopened mail, and dog collars... and relay the information to you... check.

(meanwhile, you are all still standing in a dark conference room... check.)

and, omg... kill me now.

happy hot mess monday, everyone.

#ihatemondays

random vids...

ok, my daughter (darbey) has been trying her hand at creating herself some youtube videos... and i feel inclined to share them with the blog world...

this all started about a month ago... she made me a "happy birthday mom" vid full of pictures of all my celeb crushes and her and her brother, etc... all set to music...  enjoy...

next up is from a few nights back, when the boredom of summer was truly setting in... 

and yesterday, was her intense room cleaning... 

the first one was super sweet and made me cry on my birthday (happy tears!!)  the second two are just funny and nutty... just like darbey!  she's getting exponentially better with every video... maybe she'll become some kind of youtube sensation and will support me in my senior years???  i can hope....

random toys...

earlier this evening, for some reason, i started thinking about all the toys my kids have had over their 16+ years, and frankly, most of them are not memorable... the ones that are, however, are only memorable because they creeped me the freak out!

My Buddy

Chucky

this first one someone got for my son, orion, for some holiday... i apologize to whoever got this for him if you're reading this, but that My Buddy doll looked EXACTLY like Chucky, and there was no way i was waking up with some creepy doll standing over me with an axe saying "wanna play?"  oh hell no.  buhbye...

the second toy was Tickle Me Cookie Monster... TMCM had a serial killer laugh and would go off, laughing, at random times, when nobody was even near it... like the middle of the night... if I had a gun, i probably would've shot it... imagine hearing this in the room down the hall in the dead quiet of night...

sweet dreams...

random vehicle musings...

it seems like pretty much anywhere i go, i have to drive to get there, which means other drivers, and other cars... and i also know that there are little things about other drivers and other cars that kind of annoy me.  not to the point of me shooting someone in the head, but i may have possibly "fantasized" about shooting someone in the head over such things (i'm just kidding, don't get your panties in a twist.)  i've noted some of these annoyances below... do they irritate you like they irritate me? or do i just need to chill my balls?

ONE:  those "this is my family" stick figure decals.  you know what i'm talking about, there's the dad in a stick figure suit, and the mom in her stick figure june cleaver dress, and the stick figure boy with some sort of sports ball, and the stick figure girl in her cheerleader or ballerina garb, and, of course, little stick figure fluffy and spot are there to represent, too!  and they're always lined up from tallest to shortest like those cingular "raising the bar" ads... i hate those damn things... i don't even know why exactly, they just irritate me.  it could possibly be because they always seem to be on the back windows of minivans... do you really need to dork that vehicle up anymore?  please stop the stick figure insanity.

TWO:  stuffed animals in the back window that are clearly meant for car decoration (not because some kid left them back there) ... they are not cute, put them back in that basket in the play room... please... or give them to your stick figure dog to de-stuff...



THREE:  pt cruisers and those wanna be pt cruisers, the chevy h-something or other... especially when people paint flames on them... or when they're of the convertible persuasion... or worse, both.

FOUR:  short guys in giant trucks... what is this about?  are you late to the monster truck rally??  no.  you are clearly compensating... so you're vertically challenged, just own it.  i really only mention this because on one of our days in seaside, darbey and i were walking up to the grocery store and this GIANT truck pulled into the parking lot (taking up at least two spaces when he parked his monstrosity)  and when the guy jumped out of the truck, the hood of this thing was a good six inches ABOVE his head!  he wasn't a "little person" either, just your average joe who was not blessed with height... now that was a moment i wish i could take pictures with my eyes...  dude, get yourself a pt cruiser.

at this point i feel it necessary to point out that these are not in order of annoyance, but in RANDOM order (makes sense, huh, this being a "random liana" blog and all :)

FIVE:  people who drive in the fast lane in a not fast fashion... if you want to drive the exact speed limit (or slower than the person behind you), then please do so in one of the other 4-5 lanes to your right... this is a fairly universal "rule of the road" on most highways and interstates... let's all get on board :)

SIX:  people who tailgate me... nuff said.

that is all my brain can come up with today, but tomorrow, i'll be back on the road and will find at least one more thing to rant about, and i'll be back here, updating this post... i know that'll keep you checking back!  #carnoyances

random songs...

so, recently i was reminded of a little ditty i made up awhile back... i think it's hilarious, but many people find it offensive... especially people with feet issues :)  imagine these lyrics set to music:

foot sandwich,

where the feet,

are the bread,

and the meat...

FOOT SANDWICH!

another random song comes to mind that's also kinda gross... in fact, more gross than the foot sandwich song... my darling daughter and i collaborated on the lyrics... if you know the song "stop and stare" by one republic, this is set to the chorus:

stop and poo

you think it's coming but it's stuck in you

so you have to take a laxative

then it's coming out your butt

do you smell what i smell

i know, grody, right?  just thought i'd share :)  enjoy your lunch!

#teachingtheworldtosing

random yum!

ARE YOU HUNGRY?

that "random produce..." post wasn't just blowing hot air, i actually made everything i set out to... and took pictures along the way... there's no way you're not gonna be hungry after checking this out!

BBQ PULLED PORK SANDWICHES WITH SPICY CABBAGE SLAW

these are INCREDIBLE!  i slow cooked a pork shoulder in the crockpot, fork-shredded it, and mixed it with my own homemade bbq sauce... to serve, put on a soft potato roll, top with spicy slaw, and stuff your face!

CAPE COD COBB SALAD

all the parts and pieces

all bagged up

i found this recipe on www.foodnetwork.com and adapted it to create my own individual salad kits... this, i have decided, is an awesome idea!  i know i should be eating more salads, but i'm lazy and sometimes all the work of cutting everything up when i want to eat a salad is just not something i want to do... especially when grabbing that bag of chips is SO much easier ;)  i will definitely be using this method more often!  what's great is that you decide what kind of salad you want, you pick all the ingredients you love,  and you even make your own salad dressing (it's super simple) and pack that in there too!  those salad-in-a-bag people really had something, but have you ever checked the calorie count on those babies??

KALE CHIPS

i really liked the idea of this, and they came out nice and crispy, i just wasn't too fond of them... if you really love kale, though, and crunchy things, give them a try... (no pic for this one... i ate them all... just to make sure i didn't like them that much :)

ZUCCHINI BRAN MUFFINS

these little cupcake-sized zucchini muffins are so moist and delicious, i could eat one for breakfast every single day!  and they're super healthy!  not an ounce of oil or butter in them...

ZUCCHINI AND KALAMATA OLIVE FLATBREAD

ok, this was really more like a pizza, with no sauce... you can't see the zucchini in the picture because it's underneath everything else... if i make these again, i'll cut back on the feta cheese by about half... there was waaayyyy too much on there... i'm still eating it, though :)

LEMON BASIL CUPCAKES

i only have one word for these babies... OHMIGOD!  i made a lemon-blueberry fruit sauce and some homemade, hand-whipped, vanilla whipped cream, and then topped it all off with some giant, super-sweet, fresh blueberries... this right here is heaven on a plate...

i'm looking forward to seeing what deliciousness abounds in my next my box of produce... and it's almost wednesday again!  if any of this looks so good, you just have to make it for yourself, let me know... no secret recipes here, i'll share :)

#howamistillhungry