Covering him with kisses

As I was sitting watching a DVD (Children of Men) on Sunday afternoon, the Bear came up to me.

"Mommy, my tummy hurts."
"It does Sweetie?"
"Yeah. I way down wif you."

He proceeded to come in for a hug as I lay back on the cushions. His head ended up cradled in my left arm and left breast, as his body lay across mine. His left arm went up and his little fingers found my hair. He just lay there rubbing my hair between his fingers. He lay there quietly and snuggled as MUCH into me as possible. As if the proximity to me would take away his discomfort. So I held him and held him close and secure.

Within 5 minutes, he fell asleep. Fell asleep in my arms. Like he did when he was a baby. My Big Boy! It was amazing that he fell asleep. He must have been so tired. In so much discomfort.

Instead of putting him down onto the couch immediately, I continued to hold him. I'd watch my movie and then look at him. And kiss his forehead. Kiss his cheeks. Kiss his hands. And then I'd watch my movie for a bit more. And then look at him again and cover him with more kisses. I relished in the moment. Where he was my little baby again. Because those quiet moments like that? Those moments are going to disappear soon enough.

You did what?

I had the STRANGEST dream ever last night.

I dreamed that I got a tattoo. A tattoo! Something I never ever considered getting for myself.

In my dream, I was chatting with the tattoo artist and getting the last bit of tattoo finished off. In the dream, I then looked at where the tattoo was and thought...

DANG IT! Why did I get it there? I'm NEVER going to be able to hide it from the Hubs!

It was a bouquet of flowers about 5 inches in width. On my left FOREARM! How would I ever hide that? I couldn't. As the outside observer watching my dream, I thought to myself "Dummy!"

I know people who have tattoos. I've got nothing against them. But for me (Miss Straight Lace), it's just not something I've ever wanted. So to dream that I got one is just interesting. And it wasn't a small one in an inconspicious place. It was large and on a very exposed area. I truly thought it was weird to watch myself doing what I did.

Now have YOU had a strange dream about yourself doing something you'd never thought you'd do?

Where they gather to lift each other up

Tomorrow the big conference starts in Chicago.

I wish I could go. But alas, I couldn't afford the trip. Plus I just don't see myself as that caliber of a writer. I write like I'm talking most of the time. I ramble. I stumble. Normally I write with no editing. Just to get my thoughts out. If I overthink it, I'll just end up deleting most of the things I write! So I crank it out and publish it. Yes. I can easily delete any post, but once it's out...I normally keep things up.

I wish I could be a fly on the wall at the conference. All those women gathered there. And to be around so many ladies around me? I think I'd freeze up. I wouldn't know WHAT to say. Tongue-tied. That would be me! Gawking I'm sure.

But I would love to hear what they're talking about. About their style of writing. About what got them started. What inspires them each day to write. Do they go through their day "looking" for something to write about? Gosh, some of these women have hundreds or even thousands of readers each DAY! Golly.....

For those of you ladies who are already at the conference, glad you made it in safely. For those of you flying or driving out? Stay safe. During the next few days, have a BLAST! Take lots of photos. Make sure to post as much as possible....so those of us who couldn't make it can live vicariously through you.

Rainy days...thunder...flodding...congestion...

Those of us in Arizona are in the midst of monsoon season. And this week? It's been grey skies every night.

Thankfully, I work from home so I don't have to deal with the congestion. The Hubs will be starting to have to do that tomorrow though. ARGH!

But with the rainy days have come some beautiful moments.

On Monday afternoon, a storm was headed towards us from the east. The sun was setting in the west. So to the west of us it was sunny and bright. To the east of us were dark skies and low clouds. But as we ate dinner with the sun shining into our kitchen, we watched the rain come down hard. Raining in the sunshine. We could see the streaks of water coming down clearly because the sunlight was reflecting against each one. SO PRETTY!

Then, I saw my first FULL rainbow yesterday. It was a dark rainbow that was well defined against the dark grey clouds behind it. To see the entire ARCH of the rainbow was amazing. I'd never seen one in my 30-something years of life. I made sure to get the kids outside to see it. They didn't realize what an amazing site they were looking at.

"You know, this is the first FULL rainbow Mommy has ever seen."
"Really Mommy?"
"Yes!"
"Wow. And I'm only six and I'm already seeing one?"
"Yes, my Sweetie. I'm sure you'll see and do lots of things in your life that Mommy has never done."

Tonight, it actually looks like we won't have any rain. The rain came earlier this afternoon. A ten minute downpour. That was it. Hopefully tonight we won't get any loud thunder, so the kids can sleep in their bed instead of falling asleep in ours.

Much needed vacation

As you all know, the kidlings are gone for a week. They are spending time up with the Hubs family. 3 days with my BIL and his wife, 2 days with my ILs, and 2 days with my SIL. They even spent a whole day with their second cousins yesterday at my ILs house.

What I really like is that the kids just love seeing family. It doesn't matter if its a visit to my side or the Hubs side. They are generous with kisses and hugs. They laugh and smile and have a grand time. This is when I really appreciate them and makes me realize that my two little ones are really good kids.

Of course, the Hubs family has found out quirks about the kidlings these past few days. I've mentioned to them before that the Princess snores. When I talked about this before, my MIL asked if I was going to get her tonsils out. Huh? Uh no! She snores but she's fine. I snored when I was a kid so it's normal to me. They didn't believe me before but now they do. Not only does she snore, but she also GRINDS her teeth. Oh yeah. You can totally locate her in a dark room just by sound! As for the Bear? When he doesn't take a nap, he tends to have a restless night. He sleeps. But he tends to have cry out and toss-n-turn. Some might think he's having a night terror, but he's just dreaming. I think when he doesn't have a nap his brain is over-stimulated from the day. So we expect him to have a restless night when he doesn't nap. But it scared my BIL when it happened the other day. I guess he and his wife tried to comfort the Bear when it happened. But then they realized he was still asleep. This is what those people get for NOT listening to me when I tell them things about the kids.

Not having the kids has really allowed them to have a vacation away from home. We've never been away from the kids for 7 full days. NEVER! And some folks might wonder if we're missing them? I'm not really concerned about them. I know the kidlings are having a great time. So there's no need to worry or be concerned about them. I know they're with people who love them.

But having the kids gone has allowed the Hubs and I to reconnect. And we have. Not just in a sexual way. We're also talking more. About topics we don't get to talk about when the kids are around. About his job search. What cities he's looking for jobs in. About the possibility of moving. About where we'd live if he gets an offer for a job in a different city. Normally we'd wait until the kids were asleep before broaching any of these topics, because we don't want them to know until something is definite. And by the time the kids are asleep we're too tired to really talk about these things and we're both busy trying to finish up the things we want to do for the day.

It's been good to just be a couple for a week. To concentrate my time on my husband. My love. The man who has my heart. And this week I've been focusing on him. To just sit on the couch next to each. With no one trying to squeeze their way in the middle. And we just lay there quietly and relax. It's been nice. It's been REALLY nice.

T-minus 13 days!

The Princess starts school in 13 days!

I just looked online and her new teacher is getting her website together. Hopefully she'll get the supply list finalized and up there by Wednesday so I can buy everything before the weekend. I HATE waiting until the last minute to purchase school supplies. The Princess starts school a week earlier than the kids going to the local public schools. And when the public school kids get their lists? Tar-jay is a mess after the lists get out. UGH!

I adore going supply shopping. I actually have LOVED office supply stores since I was in college. All the paper. The books. The pencil holders. The backpacks. I could spend HOURS in an office supply store. Even when I don't need to purchase anything. So I want to take my time and get the Princess stuff during the middle of the week and the middle of the day so as not to be bustled around by other shoppers.

But I definitely am NOT going to be buying her any new school clothes. It's going to be HOT at least through mid-October. Yes. It'll stay above 85 until then. So she'll continue to wear her summer clothes. Shorts. Skirts. Capris. T-shirts. I will need to make sure her jackets fit though. And get a few long-sleeve shirts. But that's all I'm planning on doing until school starts.

Can you believe it? She'll be in SECOND grade! My little girl. She isn't so little anymore. That much is for sure. And I'm getting ready for her to start distancing herself from me. She's getting to that age. I'm bracing myself. But hopefully she won't drift away too quickly. She'll always be my little girl. Even when she's 30 years old.

Hearing something different

Today as we were prepping dinner, I didn't want to put the TV on the regular default channel it normally goes to (Animal Planet). I checked what was OnDemand and found that the new season of Monk was already on there. I clicked on the second one I saw. No real reason. Just because.

As we tweetered around the kitchen getting plates and glasses, the initial portion of the program played. The part where the "m-ur-der" always happens. Then the theme song starts after that. Since the beginning of the show, it's been a peppy song.

"It's a jungle out there...."

But today? It was something else. We all turned and looked at the tv. We didn't know what we were hearing. Because it certainly wasn't the regular Monk theme-song. It had a deep back beat to it. And it was some other person's voice. A low voice. Not singing in a peppy way either.

"Mom? Is that another LANGUAGE?"

Yes. That's the question that popped out of the Princess mouth.

People. It was a RAP version of the regular theme song. And why was it being rapped? Because the episode was titled "Mr. Monk and the Rapper". And the guest rapper who hired Mr. Monk was none other than Snoop Dog (are there two G's?).

I found it interesting that the Princess thought the rapping was a different language. She couldn't understand what the guy was saying so she assumed it was a different language. Hmmm...we've never listened to rap with the kids. We don't want MTV or anything so she isn't really hip to it.

But it was a hysterical episode. Who would've figured that Snoop Dog (who has also done some advertising for Girls Gone Wild) would appear on such a straight laced show like Monk?

It's even shorter

No. Not my temper. Although the Hubs would beg to differ on that one at times.

My hair!

Remember that in February I got a drastic cut and was able to donate the hair to Locks of Love? At that time, my hair was mid-neck length. Full on top (with the aid of velcro rollers). Today? It's now more cropped along my neck and shorter on top.

Of course, I ended up buying the hair products that the gal used on me this morning. A bottle of GUTS and some mousse wax. I love the GUTS. It provides a lot of lift to my hair without it feeling like it's got a film on it. And the WAX? She put it in and it looked like my hair had texture and definition. No one has ever used wax on my hair before so I was very impressed with the results. I guess that's what I get for going to a salon (read that as a pricey place) this time around.

"It looks good. It really looks like Kate's."

This is what the Hubs said when he saw me. "Kate" is that gal with 8 kids from "John & Kate plus 8". You know that show? I adore that show. John and Kate are real. They show their flaws and its great to see on tv. She's anal and she admits it. He is laid back and takes everything his wife dishes out to him. It's such a fun family to watch.

Anyway, I really like the cut. It's the shortest my hair has ever been. And I can really see my face. No hiding now!

As for hiding? I'm continuing to try to work out. It might not be every day that I get a good workout in but at least once every other day. I'm trying to do isolation work every night after the kids go to bed. I'm seeing the results in my tummy area. I feel like the front part is becoming more defined. I can see where the center trunk area is getting more defined. The sides of my waist are getting thinner. There's less "overhang" on the bottoms I put on. I can see the definition in my biceps. NO wings to be seen on my triceps. Even my gluteous maximus feels more firm. That part of my bod still needs more work but I can feel that area getting perkier. I got some BACK now!

I'm definitely not running though. That part of my plan is being adjusted. I'm concentrating on walking. I'm just afraid of pushing too hard with running and getting injured. But walking HAS been good. Just getting 30 minutes of walking makes me feel better. A 45 minute walk would make me feel better but it's just too hard to fit that in the morning. I've got to get the kids up and ready for daycare/camp and drive them out. And then be online for work by 8am. It's hard getting my keister up and out the door but I'm trying! I am!

With the progress I've made, I'll definitely be in "good" shape before my birthday in September. And it's going to be a BIG one. I'll be entering into a new decade of my life. Yes. I'll be forty. FORTY! ARGH! But I don't feel that many year. I don't "think" I look that many years. I definitely don't act like I'm that many years old either. I'm hoping that I'm living my life like my Mom. Even at 68 years old, she's got a spark for life. She has more zest for life than my MIL, who is 10 years her junior. And I think because my Mom stays positive in her life and keeps active, she looks FABULOUS! I'm hoping to be like her when I grow up.