If you've never jumped from one couch to another to avoid the lava. You've never had a childhood.

psycho games

There are a hell of a lot of "I am mormon" billboards in SouthBend. I suspect this is some Romney psychological tactic to make people think it is normal to believe that you will have your own planet and be a god someday.

How do people take this guy seriously? I'm pretty sure the rest of the world doesn't.

culture shock and 80s flashback

I took the opportunity this week to freak out about living in Indiana. I then stepped it up a notch and visited the Chicagoland suburbs on Saturday which further magnified the intensity of the freak out. It only really gets bad when I leave the house or have to deal with the school. I keep finding myself in scenes from Footloose and can only hope that Kevin Bacon will dance through at any moment...

relocation freak out

The house sale has recorded. We now officially live in Indiana and only Indiana and I can't freak out and drive back to Washington. OK, I might just freak out a little.

I guess I need to stop and look around now, and figure how I will fit in here.

The neighbor told me I need a hobby, she sees me post on Facebook every day. 

Good thing she doesn't follow my Tweets. 

Valentines, Lupercalia and chocolate.

20 year of not celebrating Valentine's Day - because it is the other 7,280 days that count ;)

True love is that part that involves more garden projects than roses, more paperwork than pastel cards, more budget meals than dinners out, and more fights and making up than heart shaped chocolates.

A Happy Lupercalia to you all.

college tours and empty nests

making college tour plans for the 4 day weekend, looking ahead to Spring Break plans *woosh* the past 6 months have gone fast

When we relocated 6 months ago we knew that college was on the horizon for our oldest, in fact it was a key factor in the timing of our move. It was important to us that our child have a sense of home in the new state, 2350 miles away from every home that we had ever known. 

We started the college search over, after 3 years of college visits and plans that centered on the Pacific Northwest. With 4 acceptances in hand, we are perhaps doing this a bit backwards now.

high velocity parenting

The real reason that you need to pay attention in Physics the first time is that one night you will be sitting there trying to help your kid interpret velocity versus time graphs and relate motion to the graphs and somethin-somethin about the slope of the velocity and need to pull it all off like you know what the hell you are talking about.

And then cross your arms and sternly tell the child they must advocate for them-self and stay after school and get help from the teacher.

time zones and inner clocks

I am having a hard time adjusting to Eastern Standard Time, it still feels like 2am when the alarm goes off :(

Because it is to my 40 something year old body that has lived in Pacific Standard Time for most of those years.

And it is dark here on the western side of the Eastern Time Zone. And this isn't just a winter thing.

Superbowl offenses

Superbowl and sexism, lots of Twitter on #notbuyingit !

The top offenders were Go Daddy, Fiat and Teleflora. Chevy got an honorable mention.

To view the ads from yesterday's game go HERE.

Advertising Executives are 95% male. And bitter and repressed apparently. 

cat yoga

The cat is asleep in a shoe box on my desk. If I move the shoe box from her spot she sits on whatever important file is sitting there and stares me down. 

After the sun comes up she will want her box carried to the window for early morning birding.

She has also taken up yoga. I find her laying in the sun on the yoga mat all stretched out in a pose with her head on the foam block used for more advanced stretches. It is hard to admit the cat has advanced in yoga further than I have.

I have not yet discovered how those scratches got on the Pilates ball.

coffee obsession, I'm not picky...

I am, in fact, out of coffee. I am not terrible particular about my coffee, other than there needs to be lots of it.

OK, like intravenous would be my preference.

I don't like flavored coffees, they give me a headache. I don't like "cheap" coffee, it upsets my stomach with too much acid. And I would never try one of those cup-machine-things, not only is the concept just out right wrong, I hear they taste like stale cigarette butts in water.

I prefer Sumatran or Italian roast, depending on my mood. I like to keep both drip and espresso grounds in stock, and I drink it black. I use to drink a 4 shot Americano, or four, a day but switched to drip when teaching because I took to carrying around a pump pot. 

I prefer independent coffee houses based on principal but will drink Starbucks, although it often upsets my stomach and frequently tastes funny. I have been buying Starbucks beans since landing in the middle of nowhere and having not yet found an independent roaster. I have not yet gotten over the concept of Dunkin Donuts coffee.

I am coffee obsessing and may need to go to the store. now.

makeup, mirrors and hair, oh my

Why is there MORE conflict now, with 2.5 bathrooms, than there ever was before with only 1 bathroom.

DH jokes that he wanted one child and I wanted two, so we "compromised."

Had I known then what I know now I would have let him win that one.

Two teenage girls in the morning in the bathroom. 'nuf said.

silver lining on cloudy days

I keep thinking that I got paint in my hair, but we have not painted anything silver.

There are just a few strands, right at the part and bangs, and they sparkle in the sunlight.

* Bam * I am going to own these silver hairs babe!

I grew the highlights out of my hair for my 40th birthday. I use to be blonde. I figured at 40 I needed to be myself and stop trying to be someone I thought everyone expected me to be.

rays of hope and stress relief

Be kind. You never know what someone else might be going through. Better to be a little ray of hope than the straw that breaks the camel's back.

Lately there have been a lot of straws. I have been trying to focus on the rays of hope, but that is often a difficult task, especially when emotional, tired and stressed.

Remember that your life is completely full.

Stress is a funny thing, it comes from many, often unrecognized, sources. It slowly accumulates until you break or fall apart.

black beans and quinoa

Do NOT touch your eye after dicing jalapeno peppers.

Just sayin'

One of the girls picked all of the tomato out of her dinner and the other picked out the peppers. This is why I cook.

panic attacks, freak outs and other moody and maddening traits of the teenage brain

Well, Tuesday smacked me upside the head for attempting a smile.

One teen home with panic attacks and the other one freaked out later that day with no hormonal excuse.

Is there something happening with the moon? planets colliding? mars going retrograde?

I read that National Geographic article about teenage brains.

irrational and incoherent, with a smile

Monday.

That is a complete status. The tip of a very deep iceberg.

I feel as if I am about ready to fall apart, but I am the wife and mother so I will hold it together.

At least try to hold it together. There was that smallish breakdown Saturday night when I sat crying on the kitchen floor, snot streaming down my face. Irrational and incoherent.

But by Monday at 5 am I had pulled it together and went through the routine.

Tuesday I will even try it with a smile.

family time versus Facebook

They are making me play cards...they are calling it "family time." Why can't they sit on Facebook all night like other teens?!

I was dead tired last night and really wanted to crash, but one of the teens was channeling her angst into a card game called Phase 10. Not only did I have to be awake, but I had to pay attention too. It was fun while I was winning, but in the end I lost BIG time!