Life while Flying Solo

1. Absolute paranoia. I planted sunflowers willy-nilly in the flowerbed. One just happened to grow right by the bedroom window. The head of the sunflower is the same height and size as a human head. I wish I didn't have such an imagination.....
2. Watched a Toddler and Tiaras marathon. Don't ask why.
3. Hearing comments from children about "mom bums" and why they squish from side to side (with over exaggerated arm movements) when moms walk and no ones around to back me up.....kinda funny. I'm now imagining a mom backing up out of the dryer with those semi-truck-back-up beeping sounds. Sad but true.
4. Went grocery shopping. Spent over 90 minutes in the store checking prices, etc. and getting EVERYTHING on the list for once. Had groceries in my cart and bagged. Two carts actually. No money. No check card. No ID. But 2 rubber bands, 1 Kleenex package, sunglasses, 5 pens, 3 Hot Wheel cars, and 3 bottles of hand sanitizer. A clean nose and hands can't buy groceries.

Hurry home, Dan. You complete me.

Oh, the Joys of a Mom....

Daradie: I want to be an inverbtion for Halloween.
Me: Um...what's that?
Daradie: A name you make shorter.
Me: You mean an "abbreviation"?
Daradie: Yeah. It's going to be awesome.
Me: You going to be wearing a mini-skirt? (insert gallons of laughs from only me and a walk out of the room with eyes rolling from the daughter)

Some day my children will think I'm funny. Talk about funny.....
Koen: Is Jupiter a gas planet?
Dan: I don't know. Ang, what's a name of a gas planet?
Me: Uranus. (I'm still laughing over that joke and that was a few days ago.)

Dan

I am married to a great guy. Example, he found an awesome paper towel holder for me at the DI. Really. It was just what I was looking for and I love it. He gets me. Anyway, while in the car for three hours the other day he developed a proposal for my small business loan. What small business? Well, I've always wanted to own a bookstore. A bookstore with kid's books, overstuffed bright mismatched chairs with reading lamps and an art section and an out of this world story hour with crafts, dress ups and crazy voices for characters while kids are laying on the floor with their favorite stuffed animal. It would be something similar to "The Shop Around the Corner" as seen in the movie You've Got Mail combined with an awesome local store (if you still live in Utah) called "Three Little Monkeys." That store opens up the novelty toys for you to play with before purchasing. It gets crazy upstairs but it's my favorite store. This whole bookstore thing is something on my bucket list. Dan sat there and crunched out all the numbers and a list of potential investors and how many hours I'd have to work, what type of books to purchase and blah blah blah. He did that for me. While I just sat staring blankly at the road driving and thinking, 'wow. He thinks I can really do this. Perhaps I can.' And case number two, I've dabbled with the idea of writing a children's book. (Another item of my list.) He knows my general theme. All I've got is a title really. But I love the title. The rest of it is in the very back, dusty, mouse trap area of my brain that is rarely visited but it's still there waiting for the perfect time to run loose. He's asked me about it twice now in two years. Dan patiently asks why I'm not working on my writing. ("My writing" now that sounds professional...and should I have put a comma after "writing"?)

Yep. I snagged myself a good one.

Oh, the Joys of a Mom....

While driving the kiddos to dance (just Daradie's dance, Koen is the lucky weekly onlooker) Daradie sees the temple on the lil' hill and says, "If you can always see the temple, you're never lost." Stop the car. I didn't really. But felt like it. Wow. Did she hear that from somewhere? So that made me start to think about things.....

Wow! Watch this!

America's Got Talent is knocking at our door.

The Pep Talk

I've got some skills. Just not in the golf department. Dan knows it. Yet, he still signed me up for a couple's golf tournament for his work. His career. His employment. His boss and wife will be there. Our lively-hood at stakes. Along with 50 others who are into golf. They listed handicaps on the paper. Dan gave me some dignity and listed my score as 68+ (and I love that he allowed me some wiggle room with a potential 68). We will be golfing at the country club. Does that mean no white since it's after Labor Day? Focus. That's what Dan keeps telling me.

We have three days until the tournament. I apparently am not nervous enough. He reminds me that I need to care about this tournament. "You do really great at the things you care about. Can you please care about this for me?" he begs. Okay. Not really begs but I love the fact that he's so into this match...game...tournament?

During his lunch break we met at the driving range. A driving range that is watered by wheel lines. He gave me a few pointers. Told me that I needed to hit it further than 5 yards. I drove the ball a straight 100. "What are you so worried about Dan? See. I'm just fine," and then I missed the next 10. Literally missed the whole ball. I can see why he's a bit concerned. Clearly my skills are on the same level as the sprinkler system.

Here's to you, Dan. Game face is now on. Focused. Focused. Focused. And luck wouldn't hurt either. A tsunami would be even better.

Wish is Granted

The kiddos wanted to go camping one last time before school started. We headed up to Paul Reservoir. It's very small stocked lake with one campsite. On the way up we saw two moose. As soon as we unloaded the car, the temperature dropped 20 degrees and it began to snow. We ate canned chicken, chips, and apples. The tinfoil dinners would have to wait. After 1 1/2 hours of sitting in the car and telling stories, the rain/snow moved on. We crawled into our sleeping bags: Daradie, Koen, and I inside a double zipped up. Body heat proved to work that evening. Dan was left to fend for himself with a mummy. The next morning proved to be worth the wait.
We were the only ones out fishing for most of the morning. We couldn't keep up with all the bites. Daradie was content reading her book. But she soon got caught up in all the fun.

Everyone caught their limit--we fished until we ran out of hooks.