Home School Lesson

For school this morning we are watching a documentary of the 911 attacks. It brings back all the emotion and sadness, the frustration and confusion. It wasn't my choice for a school subject this morning, it was my oldest daughter's choice. She is interested in what happened as she was much younger when it happened and doesn't really remember it. 

It is crazy how they are able to show what happened in this documentary based on the evidence found. And very sad to see them playing certain shots over and over again. Not the best of memories. But we are learning about many things. For instance how a structure built the way the Pentagon was helped to keep the damage to a minimum (if you can believe it) as there were people who survived and the plane did not go in as far as it could have. And how the blast waves were contained due to the building's design. This saved people who just happened to be standing in just the right spot the moment the blast waves hit. And how bomb proof windows protected people from the fire. The area hit was being renovated so the more than 5,000 people who work in those areas were not there that day. 

Just a peek

So the picture is of our living room and where we slept the first night in our house. It was crazy but fun. Now our home is full of furniture and boxes and is a mess. But it is slowly coming together. I truly enjoy just having a house. 

Moving right along...

Well, this has not been the smoothest transition from one state to another, but we are finally moved in with all of our stuff and I have to admit, it feels wonderful to sleep in a bed and have a fridge. Living in an empty house with an ice chest was fun for a while, but not so much fun after the second week. 

We spent the weekend bringing boxes in and we are still unpacking. And today we went to the DMV and made our residence here official. It's nice to be home. Now we need to start connecting with more friends and family. I'm thinking we do a once a month get together and just invite everyone we know and see who shows up.   :B

The First Week at Home

I am currently sitting in what will be the den of our new house. It has a single chair in it, and my school papers are scattered about with scribbles here and there. There is an almost empty can of paint calling my name waiting for me to use it on the last of the trim work and a bucket with a rag, paint brushes and a tarp, and various other things on the floor. In one week I have managed to live with no furnishings other than air mattresses and folding chairs while using an ice chest for a fridge. It has been fun and interesting as well as frustrating. Some of the comments surprise me though, like "Oh! you have no fridge? How do you eat? How do you keep your food from spoiling?" or "How can you live like that?" Comedy really.

We took this, our first week, to clean the walls and the floors, dust the windows and blinds, wipe cabinets and paint rooms all in preparation for our truck-o-stuff to get here to our newly purchased home. Our truck-o-stuff that clearly we do not NEED but just can't seem to live without.

At night I sit on the floor and log into school and try to make sense of my instructors postings and assignment requirements in order to make some sort of plan on how to accomplish what she wants on the due dates I'm given. I've managed so far. My biggest obstacle is staying focused and remembering I have school because I am so easily distracted with what we have been doing to this house to get it ready. I have worked on it every day since we got here.

Tomorrow I will attempt to get the trim work done without the purchase of another small can of paint, but I am not sure there is enough in the can to get it done. I am feeling lucky though. ;)

I will also be painting polka dots. Like 30 of them. Then I get to take a trip to the airport to drop a couple of my favorite people off so they can help our truck-o-stuff make it here. 

Eventually I will get to see my husband again which I am so looking forward to. I miss him as I have not seen him in over a week. This, our first week in our new home. It's been fun. 

Car Show!

We spend the day at a car show over the weekend. It was fun and I was able to try my had at some funky photos. I plan on using my favorites to decorate the Garage. Enjoy!

More photos!

We went to the beach the other day and I was able to take some photos. I thouht I would share a few of my favorites.

Are You Ready?

What is it about moving to another stated that makes a person look differently at what they have in life? Is it the major change factor that pushes us to realize things we neglected to see in the first place? And why is that? Why do we do that? I have this really deep desire to go out and document everything around me before we move back to Vegas and I was trying to figure out why I would feel the need to do that. It isn't like I will never see this place again, although the experience will be different next time being a visitor versus a resident. But for some reason I long to capture this moment in time of our lives. Interesting. Over our time here I have tried to appreciate what we have been provided and blessed with. Things like cool weather, green everywhere, wild life and just a whole different cultural experience. But I see that this is all about to change and want to somehow capture what we have and take it with us. Am I crazy? That's not the point really so please don't answer that. 

:)

One thing I know for sure is that we are getting a second change to experience and enjoy (in a whole new way) the place we came from in the first place. I have many plans already in the works to help us take advantage of as much as we can of what we took for granted before. I learned my lesson the first time. And it was the move here that woke me up and opened my eyes to it all. The realization of just what we had and how badly we treated or ignored it. Be ready my friends, I will be knocking and calling and planning trying to include you in on my attempt to live and love life to the fullest. Are you ready?

Picture Pages!

A random photo from the river behind our hotel in Oregon. 
One of the streets of San Francisco!
A flower growing in our backyard.

As of late, I have gotten back into photography. I've always been into it as many already know. But lately I can't get enough. I think I will try to take a side class in photography later on after we move. So what do you think, am I any good?

My Baby Girl!

Okay, so I always say that my girls are my babies. I know, I'm in a sort of denial about it all. I'll work it out some day. For now I just sit in awe of how much they have grown. I look at the pictures from just a year ago and it is amazing and a little frightening all at once. We are blessed for sure. We celebrated Hailey's birthday at the park we frequently go to and I caught Hailey staring off over at some trees. When I asked her what she was looking at, she said she was just remembering all of the fun times she has had at this park, and she began to tell me all about where she first met each of her friends and some of the fun things they did. It was very cool for her to share that with me, and a little sad too. They have grown a lot here physically and emotionally. They have made some great friends and have learned a whole lot about the world. Northern California is certainly a different place from all others to live and learn.  We are going to miss it. But don't tell anyone I said that.  ;)

Sunday we will celebrate Hailey's 14th birthday at the park with messy games. It's going to be a lot of fun. Then it is strictly business for the next month packing and visiting with old friends and new to say good byes and swap email and snail mail addresses. This is a picture of friends Hailey will be leaving behind. I know she has been blessed to get to know them and hope they will all stay in touch.

I started my first online class today and I must say, it is way different from what I thought it would be. Lots of work and I am going to have to be very strict with my schedule to make sure I get everything done on time. The good news though is that I finally have a Thursday night off and will have for the next two months. The first time in over 2 years!! Yes! I wouldn't know what to do with myself except for the fact that I have lots of packing and other things to keep me busy. Lucky me!!!

Tomorrow is my last working day. I am both sad and happy about it. Sad to be leaving such an awesome group of people and happy because it means we are that much closer to getting our move over with. As it is I have found good enough reason to get myself and the girls moved two weeks earlier than we planned. If anyone would like to come paint some rooms, let me know. You are more than welcome to help.

The Waiting is Over

Its the house in the SW/SE for sure. Guess I will be doing a lot of driving. 

Oh well! At least I finally know where I am going to live now!

Yippee for me!

Sad :(

I am sad. I had an argument with the hubby and I feel very alone tonight. (Stress I am sure.)

So I have 6 days left of work. Four of them this week, three of them next week. And my last class at the campus is this Thursday. I change to online classes after that. Change is creeping in and stress is mounting up slowly without a sound. 

I took a walk tonight. It was dark and all up hill. Kind of like how I feel about tonight. 

Well, enough of that crap. I'm going to bed...

Wigidy Wigidy Whack!

Okay, so let me lay it out for ya...

...we have a house in the SW that we put an offer on, and our offer was accepted. Whooo! We have a house! It was one of many offers out there but the only one to get accepted. 

Well, we got the papers to sign on this house on Friday and while I was trying to figure out how our furniture would go in it, Shad's sister sent us some info on a house in the NW. I kind of ignored it because after all, we have a house! Don't we?

Well, last night Shad had his sister running out to look at this house in the NW and taking pictures of it. "Just in case" was his excuse. I just kept planning for our move to the SW.

Now, today I get a call from Shad telling me he put an offer on the house in the NW! The house we have not even walked in and looked at. We have no idea what it looks like inside, we have no idea about anything except it is in the NW and has a pool, and Shad just put in a huge offer on it. 

Am I the only one here that sees the insanity of all of this? 

Attack of the Squirrels!!!

Hailey was up in her room and glanced out of the window (which happens to have a huge tree in front of it) and saw a squirrel. Then she saw another one, and another. A total of three were playing around and trimming branches. She managed to grab the camera and get a few great shots. Above is one of them. The dog must have been taking a nap because usually she is sitting at the base of the tree looking up and keeping watch for them. This is the kind of stuff I will miss when we move to Vegas. (By Sept 15 for those who were wondering.) 

Speaking of our move. We had an offer accepted in the SW part of town on a house we liked. We are currently trying to decide if we want to go ahead with it or keep looking. It's a bit stressful to say the least but either way we will figure it out. In the mean time, anyone want to visit and help with the packing? :B

Fun Times!

So, as promised here are a few photos from the fun time at the fair. Hailey touched a millipede (Eewwww!) and Mackenzie drew a clown. EXCITING stuff! We might just drive up here next year just for this event. 

Wheeeeeee!

We went to the fair today! It was fun. We rode some of the rides, we played some of the games, we went to the exhibition hall and checked out some of the cool stuff there, and we finished up with snack purchases. We always get the home made fudge and the girls get cotton candy. Overall a very good day. We didn't walk the entire thing though or go to the concert as that would have had us there way longer than we wanted to be there. As it is we were there four or five hours. 

At some point in the day I told Mackenzie that we were not going to be able to go next year and she got sad again. She isn't dealing with the moving news very well. Hopefully we can remedy that when we get back by getting her involved in some activities with friends. Only time will tell. 

Well, I have a spa appointment tomorrow! So I have to go get some sleep because I have to be there at 9am! On a Sunday! What was I thinking?

 I'll share pics from the fair soon.

Waiting is hard...

So I am sitting here waiting on the bug guy to get here. We have to be ready to leave the house once it's sprayed  and unfortunately he can show up any time between now and 1pm. It would be great if he got here now because then we would have time to go to the fair today. But if he doesn't get here until one, well, I guess it's the mall or the book store or the library. 

And on to other news.....we are moving back to Vegas. Yes, it has happened. We are being transferred and now have a very short time to find a house and get moved. Part of me is super happy, and another part of me is super crappy. Sorry, I just had a huge urge to rhyme. So like I said, I'm happy that we are going to be back but will miss the weather, the green, the parks with SHADE and well, lots of other things. But it's all for the best I suppose. 

I start another class tonight. Research and Statistics. Yeah! I'm so excited to get this one over with. Since we are moving I will probably switch to online classes until we get settled in our new place. Our new place that has a pool!!! It's my one must have, no negotiations requirement.

And well, that's about it I guess. For now anyway.

We Made It!

I love my family, but oh my goodness it's nice to have my house back. 

We had a great trip to Oregon to see our niece graduate and it was made extra special because got to spend it with family. Don't believe me? Just look at the pics!

A question or two...

How do you connect with teens ages 12-19 who are using drugs?

Kids who have parents who smoke pot or who have taught their kids that pot really isn't a drug or that it isn't harmful?

Kids with parents who stand there with a drink in there hand saying "don't drink" or who decide other things in life are more important than their kids who is strung out on heroin?

Kids who use who are having kids themselves?

The job I accepted is hard. I mean, these kids aren't stupid. They know what they are doing. Most of them fully accept that the drugs they use are harmful and most of them will tell you they could care less. So how does a person reach them? I mean, I know the different theories and techniques, but I am thinking there has got to be a better way. Or perhaps there are just a lot of things I still need to learn. 

I'll have to write more later....

Crazy brain time....

This was a tough week. And that's all I've got to say about that.

I found this funny quote:

Be nice! Else you'll spend the rest of your life fighting and competing and you'll never trust anyone and you will end up just not being very happy and stuff.

I like it because there is truth in it. 

We will have 12 visitors on Wednesday staying with us. It should be an interesting event. Can you say QFT? Yep, that's what it will be. 

Well, I'm out!