And the hits just keep on comin'

Last night as my boss and I were debriefing each other after Dancing With the Stars, Fillip called. I didn't answer figuring if he had an emergency, he would leave a message. Well, he did. While at his friend's house, somebody broke the windows on both sides of his cars! It's not even like his friend lives in a bad neighborhood, but I guess it's just as fun, if not more, to smash the windows of a strangers car in front of a beautiful house. By daylight today it looks like it was a bee bee gun. Whatever...that's a $500 deductible we didn't want to have to pay.

Oh, and on the job front...I didn't get lucky like last time.

It's My Blog. I Can Gripe if I Want To.

It's not often that I really gripe on here, but there have been a couple things on my mind. Generally, I try to go about my day in a way that not only accomplishes what I need to do, but also takes other people into account. Seemingly in this city, this way of conducting oneself is not universal.

1. On the road. How much does it change your day to just let me the fuck over? I mean, really! When I put my turn signal on, I am basically giving you the courtesy of saying "Excuse me, but I will now be occupying that space in front of you in that lane." Not your lane. That lane. Therefore, it accomplishes nothing but pissing me off to immediately floor your gas pedal to prevent me from merging. Actually, it is a waste of gas, environmentally irresponsible, making you a very bad person. Additionally, to that person who was nice enough to let me in, then called me bad names when I smiled and waved- I hope all 5 feet of me scared the living daylights out of you when I came knocking on your window at the next stoplight to clarify my sincerely friendly gesture of gratitude. I thought you were nice. I was wrong.

2. The gym. Yes, I have been going to the gym. In order to avoid anyone one forming any expectations of my gym attendance, I have refrained from mentioning this, as my attendence and rapid lunchtime workouts are both feeble, thereby meeting no expectations at all. Except mine. So, in the locker room at the gym, it would seem there should be some common ground rules. Obviously, I expect to see women in various states of undress. I have no issue with this. There is a locker area provided with conveniently placed benches for dressing and undressing, as well as free towels. So, if I am standing at the vanity mirror blow drying my hair to rush back to work, please do NOT strip down right next to me at the mirror instead of at a locker, just so you can watch yourself undress, then leave your sweaty clothes on the counter *next to me* while you go get in the shower. This is not your personal dressing room and nobody should have to move your smelly clothes to get ready to go back to the office.

3. Again, the gym. Like many people, my gym clothes fit like a second skin. I'm not terribly self concious about this as I'm there to be healthier and I'm fairly lucky in that my rarely worked body is a healthy weight. I'm certainly not one of those super hot chicks, but fall well within the range of average. Correct me if I am wrong, but I thought there was a code on the gym floor. If you are going to watch other people, you are supposed to do so surreptitiously, not make them uncomfortable. We are all doing what we need to do and I suspect very few people there are interested in being brazenly ogled. Many of the weight machines require sitting with legs apart to ensure correct posture, or an effective movement. Repeatedly sitting across from me throughout the gym just to watch me do these exercises is despicable. Please, just go rent a dirty movie and leave me alone.

4. Doors and elevators. Just hold them, will ya? When hundreds of people are flowing in and out of an office building, you can't tell me you didn't know I was behind you when you let the door slam in my face. Because, you may not have known I was there, but you should have known somebody was there.

Ok, that's enough negativity for now. Carry on.

Because it is easier to do another post, than get up and go to bed

Recently the boys and I planted flowers. Yes, I planted. No, I do not consider this murder. I am trying to take of those innocent plants, even if most plants cower when I come near them with a watering can. I spent several hours turning over the dirt, which likely had not been tilled for decades. We saw some great worms (strangely, my enthusiasm for the worms was far beyond the interest showed by Hayden and Logan), pulled a lot of weeds, then gave the flower bed a really good watering. Unused to physical labor, my hand is still healing from the double open blister I earned while doing all of this. The boys had a great time "helping" me and we were all covered with dirt. Once I saturated it, we had a very impressive mudpit. When Logan asked if he could step in it, I saw no reason to refuse. The look on Hayden's face probably reflects how Fillip looked just before he carried us each straight to the shower before dinner. Good times.

Mammoth Memories

This past week we headed for the hills to Mammoth. I had never been there, and now understand why people love it so much. It is truly beautiful, and we couldn't have asked for better weather. There was some snow, and some sunshine, and it was never ridiculously cold. They did wear snowsuits- Hayden looked like pit crew for NASCAR and Logan looked like an Oompa Loompa, but they sure were cute. There were 15 of us- 8 adults and 7 kids. Basically, Fillip's entire immediate family. The kids had an absolute blast playing together, and the kids other than mine are all excellent skiiers and/or snowboarders. We did send Hayden to ski school twice. He enjoyed it the first time, but was slightly overwhelmed and beyond tired. The second day seemed to really click with him and I was so proud to see my little man navigating the "slope." While Hayden was at ski school, we had a chance for some one on one time with Logan. He did ask to go skiing, but was satisfied by our explanation that he has to be 3 years old to go to ski class. We built a snowman and played at the house until it was time to go pick up Hayden.

One afternoon, due to popular demand (demand being the key word here) we took the boys on the gondolas. Despite a pretty strong wind shaking the gondola, the boys thought that was great fun. I did NOT. At one point we bounced so hard that we heard a soft thwump as Logan fell off his seat onto the floor. He didn't care though, and all they wanted the rest of the trip was the gondolas. We could see them from our rental house, and the boys carefully monitored when the gondolas were running, each one that floated by, and when they had stopped for the day.

My favorite part was watching the kids play on the toboggin. All of them were fearless in racing down the hills, alone or together with as many as could fit at one time. They happily played together for hours, and tired themselves out so much, that even Hayden took a nap every day we were there. There was a bunk room with two sets of double wide bunks for all the kids. My boys felt so grown up getting to bunk up with their big cousins, and didn't give us any trouble about going to bed. Logan wasn't too bad about waking everyone early, especially since the household was up early to hit the slopes anyway.

Hopefully, we can make this an annual trip. With an easy drive, beautiful scenery, and so much fun activity, I can see building a lot of memories there.