Goodbye, Tahoe

Just when it's hopeless that I will ever get inspired to write again, life hands me inspiration.

My doorbell rang (no it wasn't HGTV telling me I'd won my house, that happens on March 14th, you can watch us on TV! I just know I am the winner...) and I had three very nice, humble hispanic ladies at my door. The one in the front said, "I think you have my little lost dog in your backyard." Yep, Tahoe the Terror Terrier had a home before he 'found' us and it seems that his family has found him. Hubby and I are thrilled (Tahoe is still here with us, we are waiting to see papers and for Hubby to be home Wednesday night). Savannah and Bethany will be a different story, I'm afraid. In our defense, we always told Savannah that we would keep him until his owners came forward. I believe they have. I do believe my house needs a break, though. He has 'christened' every room in his little doggie-boy way, he chews up anything and everything, my garage (his sleeping quarters, yes, with a dog bed) stinks to high heaven and he has driven our baby (a female golden retriever named Sadie with the most gentle personality and sweetest brown eyes) completely crazy.

That all being said, I think I will miss the little Terror just a little. Bethany says his name in such a cute way and I will miss that. I will not want to see Savannah's heart broken, but she will understand... there are 2 little boys who miss their dog. And don't worry, I already lectured the original owner, "He needs to have a secure backyard 'cause he jumps high, if he gets out he will run back here, you must put a tag on his collar because when we found him there wasn't one, he must be inside when it's cold (he's just a baby and he shakes when he's cold) or when it's windy or rainy or even too hot. The garage will be fine. You can't breed him 'cause we fixed him. Besides there are too many dogs at the pounds that need homes. We also got all his shots and the tags to prove it." My lecture went on and on until I could be certain she got the point. I think she did. Responsible pet-ownership takes work. They didn't do their job because we ended up with him even after we put fliers up and drove the neighborhoods. Hubby installed a very high gate enclosure so Tahoe couldn't get out. This lady said her husband was "very busy". So what did I say? I told her once we see papers and my husband is home to help with our daughters' tears then she may, of course, have their dog back. Plus I told her it would give her time to get their backyard secure and to get her house and garage ready. I will be sad to see him go, relieved to be a one-dog family again and praying for his best and his happiness. I'm glad we found him and took care of him. Someone else may have just called the pound.

Here's to Tahoe the Terror Terrier! Whose real name is something in Spanish I can't pronounce but he'll always be 'Tahoe' to us! photo, Tahoe with Uncle Brad watching the Super Bowl

A Hundred Howling Coyotes and the Hope of a Book Club

Well, like I said our weather would change, and it has. The wind is howling now like a hundred hungry coyotes outside our door. It's cold, too. This weekend will see us retreat to the indoors again much unlike last weekend. Oh well. This will happen several more times before we stay warm. Weather in the high desert is just like this... we get like, two seasons, summer and winter and they each take their sweet time getting here! But, alas, this is what I know and sometimes what we know is such a difficult thing to give up. I remember leaving Twentynine Palms Marine Corps base (in the high desert) to be stationed at Camp Pendleton (by the ocean). I had spent several summers already sweltering in the heat and winters in the cold and wind. Our first summer at the beach I was in sweats the entire time!! I just could not warm up!

Marines (and I'm sure other branches of the service as well) leave their hometowns and are usually stationed so far away. Being on base, you always heard everyone reminisce about home and how great it is, how they can't wait to get out of the corps and go home. What they fail to remember is how they couldn't wait to leave... wanted so bad to just graduate already so they could leave their small towns and get "outta here". They all had dreams of just how incredible the rest of the world would be. But, sure as the sun rises, those guys get away from home for a few months and all they can talk about is how great home is. Bless their hearts. Aren't we all the same way? As a couple, hubby and I have moved around thirteen times. I could cancel and start utilities and change our address is my sleep. I always felt at home in the high desert. It didn't even have to be my small hometown. I just always wanted the desert. We are just the most comfortable with what we know! Right now, I feel very acquainted with the wind!

I just finished a book. I enjoyed it. It's called the Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton. It's about five friends who begin a writing club during the late 60s. As they are raising families and going to the park every Wednesday, their world is changing around them. Women's lib, racism, the race to the moon, computer advances and Vietnam are all happening around their park in Palo Alto, California. During the novel, you're forced to ask if they change the world around them or if the world around them changes them. The last two books I have read are from the Bookmarked Club Pick from Target. I would love to be part of a book club with you all and we could chose books from this section in Target! The logo for all these books is in the upper left-hand corner of these books. I'll go this weekend and pick another one and we can get started! If you have a suggestion, leave it in the comment section for me!

Glorious

Glorious. That is how I would describe our weather recently. For all of you dealing with record snowfalls and coldblasts let me just describe for you what Southern California has been like. Over the weekend our highs averaged 70F. Yep, you read that right. Even in the High Desert. I got not a thing done because we were all too busy outside playing, riding bikes, taking walks, checking out the remnants of my garden, pulling weeds (that's not work to me in this weather) going to the park and basically getting all the vitamin D we could handle. It was, well, glorious. Now that we've gotten a taste of the end of our winter hibernation we must retreat. More rain is coming. Temps are expected to be back to normal, highs in the low 50s. We did enjoy our spring teaser, though.

Another blessing (but shh, Hubby doesn't agree) is that our downstairs TV has quit working! It's even a newer TV but it's on the fritz. Do we Americans have any idea how much we can get done without television????!!! I'm beginning to have an inkling... Hubby came home from work and wanted to go on a walk. We did. It was 5:30, still light out and about 64F. Then we came home, had dinner and Hubby found a movie to watch on the computer, our (mine and his as a couple) favorite... Parenthood with Steve Martin and Mary Steenbergen. We just love this movie for all of the craziness in this one, extended family. Before we had our girls we would watch it and say to each other, "someday we will have great, crazy lives filled with kids and noise!" Now that we're there we are still thrilled to watch this great movie. There's a part that always gets me crying. The grandmother tells a story to Steve and Mary about 'Grandpa' taking her on a roller coaster at a park. She liked the ups and downs, the speed, the twists and turns. Some people didn't like it. They went on the carousel. That just went around in circles. But she liked the roller coaster, "you get more out of it". By the end of her story I am always bawling. Yep, you do get more from the roller coaster. It's great to be reminded of this joy when I've got a toddler hanging off my legs, cooking dinner, helping with homework and laundry going too.

The end of the movie is perfect, too. No, I won't spoil it for you but it's also a tearjerker. The song that plays at the end (credits rolling) is my favorite too. It's 'I Love to See You Smile' and I'm not sure who sings it. Some of the words are, ' I was born to make you happy, I think you're just my style, everywhere I go, out of everyone I know, I love to see you smile'. There are so many wonderful life lessons in this gem... go, run, rent it now!

What? Doesn't Everyone Vacuum Naked?

We have something very exciting happening at our house right now. It's got me all in a twitter! I just love it when I see such progress being made! We are heading (much sooner than I thought for that matter) to the land of "no babies here, no diaper bag needed". Just Mom and Dad with our big girls! We are potty training!!!!! Last week, out of the blue, Bethany said, "potty, Mama" and pointed to her diaper. Well, I'm not one to miss an opportunity to head into "big-girl land" so we ran to the bathroom, all the while me thinking, "yea, right, potty training at 20 months" and expecting nothing to occur in the bathroom. Boy, was I wrong, wrong, wrong! She went, hopped up, let me pull up her pants and put a new diaper on. She just tottled off like she'd been doing this her entire life. Meanwhile, I sat there stunned.

Off we ran to Target for "big-girl panties" (Pull-Ups) and M&Ms (reward). She has had a few 'misses' but mostly 'hits'! She is so ready to do this! I wasn't even going to broach the subject with her till she was two but my incredibly smart, mature, ahead-of-pack daughter had other ideas! No, I'm not partial.

So, we've been spending a lot of time inside, naked (it's the only way to do this) and Bethany is getting it all down pat. She heads off into the bathroom pulling her Pull-Up down without even telling me! She has a cute potty-training potty but only wants to use the toilet! I've said all along that she'd be the child who will be doing everything fast. I will have to hold her back from growing up too soon! But for now, I'm just looking forward to getting rid of my diaper bag and carrying my stylish purses again!

We've had Savannah's BFF here this weekend along with Uncle Bradley. The weather was gorgeous... 65F! All the girls were outside at 10am playing (Bethany in her jammies still!) with Daddy and Uncle. We're about to head to the park. It's also Valentine's Day! I got an elliptical exercise machine!!!! I'm so excited to get started! I made Hubby a big card with poster board and candy bars as substitutes for some of the words (You are my Lifesaver, our marriage is Bliss, I'm gonna kiss you Now and Later, I was a Smartie to marry you). He loved it and I loved making it. I also got him a few other things...

Weird

I have decided we are a weird family. We do weird things. We find weird things funny. We take pictures of our weird family. We take weird pictures of our weird family.

We have a weird way of playing

We have weird fashion sense

We shop for weird things

We have weird fascinations

These Pics go with "Get Me Outta' This House"!

if by "happy" you mean trapped with no means of escape...

... then yes, I'm happy!

(I'm fine, now, got out of the house yesterday for a bit and am doing better now!)

...and I obviously don't know how to turn this picture around... sorry. I can see you all turning your heads to the right to try to see this. You all look really silly.

Get Me Outta this House!

Hello, hello, hello. It's Super Bowl Sunday. I'm not much of a sports fan and, praise God, Hubby will watch occasionally, but he isn't either. But his baby brother Bradley is here and they are looking forward to seeing the big game. I will tell you this, I would like the New Orlean's Saints to win just because it would be so uplifting to the Big Easy after everything they've been through with hurricanne Katrina and all.

I'm actually, secretly for now, hoping to put Bethany down for her nap after church and maybe run off to my favorite thrift store, the kid's consignment shop and maybe to the Christian book store next door for a cup of tea. I think Hubby will be too involved in the game to even miss me! I could sure use some quiet time to myself! Hubby always calls me from work and tells me about his day... the drive to work in the quiet car, lunch with his buddies from work, the drive home in some traffic in the, once again, quiet car. It makes me drool. I would love to sit for an hour every day in a quiet car, have lunch with girls I work with (no, not necessarily my girls) and then drive home again in a quiet car, even if I have to work in between and sit in some traffic! Oh, yep, I think I need some quiet time today... I think I'm desperate.

My friend Susan (who moved to Arizona, remember her? I told you about her in a post a while back...) and I would seem to feel like this on the same days and it always made us like magnets toward each other! We would call in the morning and go, "I need to get outta this house, how 'bout you?" And she'd say, "girl, you read my mind, I'll meet you at Starbucks and we'll take it from there". We'd go get into some kind of fun trouble. Shopping, eating, something! But it never involved a movie because we liked to talk way too much to behave in a theater. She is a Christian as well and we would talk about the Lord and pray together but sometimes (ok, a lot) we would just get silly. Laughing was our choice of medicine. One day would do it and I could go back to normal life. Hubby was understanding about this crazy need in me! He still is! Anyway, Susan gave me this great calendar for my purse and it is sarcastic and silly with these ladies from the '50s all dressed up for housework and being proper but who secretly long for gettin' silly. Here are some of the photos! I miss my silly, crazy friend!