Road Trip! #RibbitRibbit

I made a 40 minute road trip out to Cheney - past Cheney actually, to claim the two 6' Costco folding tables of my mother - that we used at #7 & #10's graduation party.  I spent some time with Koda and Buford before putting the tables in the car.  Once the seats were down and the liftgate open, I grabbed the tables one by one and slid them into the car... and away I went.  40 BACK down the road I came, and... perhaps a little longer with the one lane road construction going on.  

Black Betty climbed up Hatch hill and I parked her at Albertsons, knowing I needed to get in there before ALL of the gatorade sells out due to hot weather and Hoopfest.  Too late, all of the good flavors were gone so I sat in the aisle for a bit texting to Wack to find out what would be the next best flavors and as I did that ran into some friends and chatted it up.  All told, I was in the store for 15 minutes probably.

I wheeled my new mini cart (I just love those) out to the car, opened up the back, threw in my bags and the gatorade, slammed it shut, took the cart to the cart collection thingy - you know "Please return your carts here."  That thing... and hopped in the front seat of my car.  As I put the key in the ignition... this little fella hopped across my dash:

As quickly as I had hopped in and it had hopped away from the steering wheel, I hopped the hell right back out of my car and slammed the door!  I watched as this teeny tiny little creature hopped over towards the steering wheel again and appeared to be looking at me.  I walked around to the other side and unlocked the door, opened it, in hopes it would hop right back out of my car.  But wait!  SLAM!  I shut the door again.  I'm sitting in the Albertsons parking lot, pacing around my car, looking in the windows and realizing if I let it hop out onto this big parking lot - it's likely to get run over.  So now what?

I know.  I'll text my husband, who's at work, in a frenzy as I try to figure this out:

This little frog continued to hop-about in the front and finally, as I was peering in the drivers side window again, it hopped to the seat and then climbed up the window.  Yes... it had been watching me.  It wanted out.  It was HOT out after all.  But not here, not in the lot.  After a few minutes, it hopped back to the back again and I could see it on the furthest edge of the table - so I went for it!  It was not my smartest move but this was how it had to go down:

I hopped (such a good word for this post) into the front seat, keeping my eyes on the rearview mirror to see what the frog would do.  Started the ignition and the moment the air started to flow... what did she do??!?!?!?  Climbed into one of the vent thingy mabobs in the way back.  Now some people I told that to last night immediately thought "Eeewwweeeee" and figured the frog would get stuck in there and die and I'd have this smell and yada yada yada.  But my first thought was more like "Uhhhh wait.  Please tell me you haven't been LIVING in my car?" I figured this was as good a time as any to gun it home, keeping an open mind that at any moment it may well hop into my hair, fling off my shoulder or land on my hand on the steering wheel.  I was preparing myself for that the whole way  home (like 53 seconds if the light stays green).  I pulled into the garage and Blue Eyes (this seems fitting) is standing in the driveway tossing a baseball in the air and catching it.  He watches as I roar into the garage and is looking at me with this "What the...?!?!?" as I get out, slam the door and yell "There's a frog in my car!"  

Let me just tell you... it's not something I expected first.  Second, it's not something anyone I told was expecting to hear either.  I told Blue Eyes it was in the little vent, that I was going to open up the back and wait for it to come out.

"Ready.  Set.... AAAAAACCCKKKK.... GO!"  And I opened up the car.  I pointed to the vent to show Ryan where the frog was and he says "It's right there mom."

"What?!?!?  Where??!?!?"

He points to the table and sure enough, it's just sitting there, watching us.  

It took a minute or so, but it finally jumped out and found it's way to the grass by the garage.  I snapped a few photos and then told Ry I wanted to hold it.  I mean... I said it out loud... and I thought I wanted to hold it... but before I could really think that through, Ry had gone over, picked it up and I snapped that photo above.  Then he set it back down (because telling you he tossed it back into the grass is uncool) and walked away as I sat and watched it hop here and there and finally burrow down into the soft, thick grass.  I came inside and unpacked stuff and went out a few times to check on the frog, each time, there it was... likely as traumatized as I had been... poor thing.  

So if you ever read my posts - you might remember, on Year 1 - when we went to visit my niece Sarah's - grave site.  It was a clear day, no one at the cemetery but us.  Rob and Liz had brought some fresh flowers to put at her headstone... which, on either side, has a "built in" if you will, flower "holder".  So they pulled the flowers out of the holder on the left and replaced them with the new, fresh flowers.  As they went to remove the flowers from the other side, we noticed a little frog, much like this, sitting there on the stone.  As soon as the flowers were removed, it hopped down into the flower holder... 

I walked past a few other headstones in search of any kind of life at all... and found none. Just this one cute little frog, who seemingly was living at this one spot - who looked at us as if to say "I got this. It's okay."

This post isn't to suggest it's the same frog.  That would be insane and ridiculous.  But this little guy rode with me for 40 minutes, never disrupted my driving - which... it would have had he jumped on me WHILE I was driving... and totally appeared to find a spot the moment he hit our lawn.  I over analyze things, over think things... over stress things... but as I watched him - at some point "Sarah's frog" jumped into my head - and while I believe there's a connection, I'm not sure what it is (let me over think it for a while) I am content in knowing, believing, that this little frog, the same size, same cuteness as the one in Demingham... is a symbol.  And right now, (I think) that symbol is nearby to my house and while I'm sure it seems odd and a skoche crazy to you - I'm feeling calm and at peace.

Now I think back to just yesterday and Ryan's quick step to pick it up when I said I wanted to hold it (which I never did) and how it just let him pick it up and hold it there while I got just the right picture.  With all of Ryan's run-in's in Pullman with "Sarah's Boys", doesn't it seem just a bit uncanny that it was he who was outside when I pulled in?  He who was there to take that in with his crazy mom?  Especially given, that 99 times out of 100, my kids are NEVER outside when I pull up from somewhere.

There's no such thing as a coincidence.  Everything happens for a reason.  

The Dentist & The Eye Doctor

I hate them.

Well, "hate" is a strong word.  But... yeh... I hate them.

I like when my teeth feel clean - so I like that.  And honestly - the absolute WORST part of walking into the dentists' office - is the smell!  You know how all of the casinos/hotels in Vegas are going to cleaner, fresher air to breathe?  They pump their own signature smell through all of the vents so non-smokers don't have to smell the smokers' smoke.  Do dentists do that?  Because if they do - their signature smell could use a MAJOR overhaul.  

So I don't really HATE the dentist.  He's a great guy.  His hygienists are brutal though, right?  They scrape and prod and do that whole 1-4-3-2-2-2-4-2-3-2 needle in your gums thing.  You seriously have to have some part of Satan in you to have that job.  I suppose, though, even they are just doing their jobs.  It's the ones that TALK to you when they are scraping and you're drooling and they're sucking and oh... best yet... ask you questions when they have those x-ray cardboard things in your mouth AND... if you're me with a very healthy gag reflex, just trying not to gag while they ask the question, step from the room, press the button and come and stick that gaggy thing on the other side.  All the while, you haven't answered the question because if you had you'd 1) mess up the x-ray and 2) sound something like this:  "oiauhfh afkiessstp  slllpgh"

All of that aside - it feels good to leave the dentist.  It's just that smell...

Now the eye doctor is starting to rank right up there as "Satan-esque" for me.  For years we could just go to Costco, he'd do the puff in your eye and boom, I had a new prescription for my contacts.  But with new insurance the past couple of years I've HAD to go to an ACTUAL eye care shop.  Today I was dilated... good and dilated.  I'm not even sure if my spelling is accurate in this post.  I can't see squat!  

But this place last year - charged me extra to do the "contact" screening even though I told them - I DO NOT WEAR, NOR WILL I ORDER - glasses.  But still, I had to pay.  I was not happy about this.  Next they moved me from 3 rooms.  I didn't smell, I had showered, I wasn't wearing an Ozzy Osbourne t-shirt.  I wasn't sure what it was until I saw the older woman with diamonds drizzling all over her - that they placed in the room I had started out in.  I saw where I fit in their priorities, even with me getting there first and having an appointment.  Mark number 2.  

So I had my yearly visit today and I should have taken the time to find another place but it's so close by and THANK GOD I didn't go further - because they dilated the bejeezus out of my eyes.  I'm pretty sure it was intentional.  Mark number 3.  

BUT... she was not happy with my numbers from what her assistant put in and what they were last year (at her shop) and prior years (at Costco) so she took the time with me, didn't transfer me room after room and actually found that at 43 - the age when most people are starting to wear bifocals - that my vision is actually "very robust" in that facet and I wasn't going to need them any time soon.  In fact, my vision is improving.  Yep.  Weird.  She did her tests THREE times and my prescription in my right eye has gone from a 2.75 to a 2.0 and my left eye from a 1.75 to a 1.5.  

Sooooo glad I went for my run this morning prior to the 8 AM appointment!  I had told The Dad my original plan was to drive there, go to the appointment, run my loop after, end back up at Black Betty, get my Starbucks and drive home.  Had I done that - I'm sure to have been hit by several cars, run into several bushes and perhaps lost my way.  I feel mostly blind right now.  I didn't even feel like I could walk into Albertsons and get some milk - for my three little Minns who will all come home from work - ready for a tall glass of milk.  Driving home was stupid.  

The only thing I can do now is put on my shades and go chill on the deck with the hounds until it wears off.  tik tok tik tok... 

"ATTENTION HUMANS!!! I'm No Longer Constipated!!" Said...

Jack - the dog.

...after emptying his bowels on the downstairs bathroom floor sometime this morning between the hours of 5 AM when Wack & Blue Eyes head out to work and 10:30 AM when The Wiz finally wandered in there.  

What's odd is that Jack didn't try to tell me that he needed to go outside with his usual "Uh hey... I need to go... like... really go... if you know what I mean" bark.  So that helped make this morning fairly shitty.  Yes... pun intended.

Now Jack had been constipated this week and I could tell after I mowed the other day.  Jack has this knack for taking the first freshy on my freshly mowed lawn.  Usually as I'm mowing.  It always amazes me that for a dog that takes care in the morning to make sure no one is watching... that he will line up to go number two as I'm mowing.  This is new.   He hasn't done this all the years I've been mowing (which is like 5) so this is new "behavior", if you will.  And not my favorite Jack "thing".  

So the other day - he actually went a fairly decent number 2.  I remember.  I was out there.  The lawn was insanely long though due to the Senske service and fertilizing the week before so I finished up before picking up his latest treasure.  As I mowed though, I was finding little mushrooms in the longer grass.  Personally, we were thinking that the Senske service probably should have taken care to make sure those didn't pop up - but they fertilized and then it rained.  And rained & rained and I think it just fostered a really nice mushroom growing climate in that long grass.  I had noticed Jack out there later that afternoon nosing around and remembered - JACK is our dog that likes to EAT those mushrooms.  I had tried to rake them up with the pooper scooper when I was done but clearly... as evidenced on the bathroom floor this morning... did not get them all.  Or enough of them.

I noticed later that afternoon while I was on a call that Jack was having issues with his after dinner dump (this is really pleasant, right?) and I even tried to point it out to The Dad while he changed and I listened intently to the conversation coming from the other side of the phone.  I knew then... that if Jack was struggling - at some point... a floor, carpet or part of my freshly mowed back yard were eventually going to pay for it.  Crap.  Yes.  Again, pun intended.

Jack did his "Let me out" bark a few times last night and always from downstairs.  Jeez Jack, we're all upstairs and you can go out from up here.  Come tell us up here.  What's the deal?  But nooo.... we race down the stairs because we know that bark.  Shockingly enough, he didn't do it at all last night  OR this morning.  I know.  I was here.  Sitting here working intently on my computer.  

What I heard was #7 say "Mooooommmm!  We've got a problem."  What he meant by that was "Mom, there's a ton of shit in the bathroom down here that you need to clean up!"

So.  That was awesome.  As The Dad and #7 pondered over who was the culprit - I said without a doubt - that it WAS Jack.  I was sure.  They tended NOT to believe me.  Not so shocking.  But once they left for jobs and the dump (haha... yes really.  #7 cleaned out his house in Cheney and was taking a boatload out to the dump, uncanny timing, if I do say so myself) Jack came in and laid next to me while I clicked away.  And his stomach gurgled and gurgled and gurgled.  

Yes.  It was Jack.  I only hope as he relieved himself and caused more work for me today - that those mushrooms helped him to feel no shame.  Then again, he's a boy and boys sometimes talk about their...

Well, you get the idea.  

The day is half over and isn't quite as crappy as this morning was.  <sigh>

A Fantastic, But $pendy Weekend & A New Challenge!

Oh last week and weekend... while it was real, and it was fun... we are happy to be entering this week!

Last week found one of the windows in Blue Eyes Jeep smashed out.  It was time for tabs for two cars, an oil change and tune up for the Tahoe due to a road trip and a long overdue hair appointment for me!  Yikes!  We all awoke at the crack of dawn on Saturday to make the 6 hour trek to Vancouver, WA for our nieces/cousins' wedding!  We made good time, only to realize about a half hour out of Vancouver that the check in time at the hotel was 3 pm.  The wedding was at 4 and 45 minutes away.  Fortunately - another relative allowed the boys into their room to shower up and the hotel was able to make available one of our three rooms... so the girls started getting ready while I sat and waited for the hotel to ring up when each additional room was ready. tic tok tic tok tic tok

By the time that all happened - #7 had gone off to shop for a wedding gift and I quickly put myself together.  Off we went in two cars to a most beautiful wedding setting!  We hugged family and friends of the kids, took some photos and a handful of us, after taking in an amazing afternoon for my niece and her new husband, made the trek back to the hotel - knowing morning would come early and another 6 hour drive was ahead of us.

PHOTOBOMB!!!

No one knew I had three amazing girls in my life!

Not much better in the world than this right here!

Other than this...  Me and My Three Sons!

I woke up not feeling well (surely this didn't come from a shot and a half of fireball or two glasses of Angry Orchard!) at 5 AM and was up the rest of the morning while The Dad snored off and on.  I showered, then took a bath while my stomach churned and churned. I finally dried my hair and went down to get my latte from a very terse, not polite at all Hilton-Starbucks employee.  I brought one back up to the room for The Dad - as he tried to wake up little by little and finally, my tummy began to settle.  We notified the 6 "children" we had with us what time we were hitting the road and then took in a short walk to the Starbucks a block away with the boys Uncle and Aunt and spent some time chatting before parting ways and "picking up" the kids who had all taken in time on the Party Bus after the wedding.  What we found when we arrived were three very sick kids.  Two hungover, two with stomach issues.  When we checked out, we collected a plethora of baggies from the front desk so that, like on airplanes... we had "puke bags" handy. It was a most expensive weekend for The Dad and I, what with the broken window, dog sitter and travel - but it was a great weekend to watch them all shine!

The K-S family has so much to be happy about and shine on about for a long time to come!  It was a perfect day!

Now it's a Minn themed week minus my license and debit card that The Dad lost in Vancouver.  So I will not be spending any money this week until a replacement comes... and I shouldn't be driving because I have no license... No matter... the $$$ is long gone now!!  But now it's HOOPFEST WEEK and we have family coming to town to take it in with us and watch the boys play some fun, hot, street ball!  The weather is supposed to be as perfect as it can be here and it's always a weekend of many gatherings and fun!  There's a concert on Saturday night and a birthday bash on Friday...  So away we go!

UPDATE:  Sunday ends the #56milesinjune challenge I began on June 4th - and after missing the last three days - I laced up today and ran a slow, but O.K. 5k this morning.  I am currently at 44 miles with 6 days to go.  If this stupid rain would go away - or at least warm up a skoche, I could rock the outdoor run because I run so much better outdoors than on a treadmill!  But as it stands now - I see myself MAKING this goal!  The next goal is to work on flexibility with the #hausofgirlshollowback challenge!  Bring.  It.  On.

You in!?!?  Follow @hausofgirls or #hausofgirlshollowback on Instagram!

Countdown Is On!

We are less than 2 weeks away from Hoopfest.  Spokane Hoopfest 2013 to be exact!  The WORLDS' largest 3-on-3 street basketball tournament!

That night we had an iPhone messaging frenzy with our friends - where I was feverishly working to look at every picture I've taken, to take an iPhoto of and message off to humiliate and laugh at whomever it was of (The Dad, usually) - that sit in a myriad of boxes in the spare bed/bike/whatever room, I found year after year of Hoopfest photos.  

Action photos.  Team photos.  Champion photos.  Not champion photos.  Parents watching photos.  Teammates watching photos.  So.  Many.  Hoopfest.  Photos!!!

So here we are.  June 18th...  with the kickoff really beginning in 9 days and Tip-Off in 11!  The boys' teams are all set, minus the one family team I was supposed to register for The Dad and sons...  there's always next year for that.  C'mon... I've been busy!  Sort of.

We're in a cooling trend in The Can this week... lots of rain, windy, thunder booming, lightning striking weather - which, speaking of, was quite spectacular last night/this morning.  I went to sleep counting between a flash of lightning and the thunder booms to see if the storm was coming in, or leaving.  I don't remember - so it did a splendid job of taking over for counting sheep!

But for Hoopfest, as a fan - we don't want rain.  We don't want thunder. Nor lightning.  So this little "system" better weather it's own storm and skidaddle on outta here by, say, Tuesday-ish!

~~~~~

Other than Hoopfest - we spent some of last week preparing for #7's college graduation... well, rather, for his party for his first degree in Finance.  He's got a little more to go to finish up his second Electrical Engineering degree.  I drove to Seattle, picked up Wack from the FIJI house and found that I could kick ass driving over there.  All that being hesitant and feeling like I couldn't drive over there was poppycock and I killed it.  I kicked it's a**, truth be told.  I'm actually looking for an excuse to go back so I can do it some more.  Which... may not be a good thing...  it was empowering enough for me - and I'm just a skoche competitive sooooo...  I need to keep my solo visits to a minimum perhaps. <?>  

I've got some things I've been chewing on to write about - but it's summer and my flowers and the sunshine that's been hitting my lawn and deck have been keeping me happy - so the stuff that's murky and not really worth my energy is going to wait.  Hopefully, when the sun fades and the temperatures drop - I'll have let them go entirely and be better off because of it.  I actually think I'm fairly close to being "there" - it's been over 2 and a half years in the making and I'm that person that - once the realization is there - but then I try to rationalize or give it that "one last time" (for the umpteenth time), but then the realization and truth smack you again... but still you try to make "it" - O.K., but then it happens again...  Yeh.  I'm done.  That's where I'm at and I know it's not even worth talking about.  But... you know.  It's still a little bothersome.  But fading.  Quickly.  So that's a good thing - to top of a not so good thing.  But healthy.

Sheesh.  Life sounds more complicated than it really is sometimes.

~~~~~

Let's end with this:

How fun is this?  I got retweeted by the social media guru at LIVE with Kelly & Michael to 629.4 THOUSAND tweeples!  I frickin' rule!

Ready Or Not... (Queue Darth Vader March)

The Dad left early for Portland for his first - of many to come - out of town trips...  I was wide awake from 4:47 AM on.  Fed the dogs, unloaded the dishwasher, started some laundry, picked up the living room, swept the floors, folded some laundry and then laid down thinking I'd just rest for a minute.  58 minutes later I woke up, thinking that it could have only been mere minutes that had passed...

Then the rush was on.  I knew today I HAD to get my run in for #56milesinjune because though I mowed the Back 40 yesterday - I gave my shins and feet a break after having run 6 of the previous 7 days.  But I had to run today because just as soon as I'm done with this little post - I'm off myself... by myself... for the first time in 15 years... to Seattle.

15 years ago this summer - I drove to Seattle to pick up my best pal from high school to drive her from her relatives to Spokane for our 10 Year High School Reunion.  Gads... THAT makes us sound old  - which we aren't.  This time, I'm driving over to pick up my baby from his first year of college.

All that whining I did about empty nest now gets to turn into wishing and whining - waiting for them to head back to school.  Sometimes anyhow... But not for a few weeks yet.  We've got a celebration this week for #7 and #10 for graduating with honors from EWU (even though #7 will continue for another quarter or two to finish his electrical engineering degree), then off to an out of town wedding where the hotel rooms are all set, the dogs and house finally  have a sitter... our only hitch is that we don't have a convenient way to get seven people there.  So... there's still that to work on... THEN it's Hoopfest which is like Christmas at our house and THEN... let the stinky, dirty, socks and whining about how we have no food in the house begin.

I've loaded up my iPod nano and have my little connector in the car for my solo road trip.  I'm going to head to 4503 17th Ave NE, pick up Zach Attack and we're going to get a bit to eat downtown, then take in the Mariners game ( #maythemorsebewithyou ), before I drop him off to finish his packing and whatever else must go on in a fraternity before heading to The Dads' uncles home to lay my head down to sleep.  I've already told Wack that I intend that we leave early.  His response "Like uhhh.  What does that  mean?  730 or 8?"  MOTY:  "Yes.  Like that."  So my time in Seattle will be brief, much like it was 15 years ago... over one day, back the next.

Ready or not... here comes Summer!

#56milesinjune

The weather was temperamental this past weekend - which made it easy for me to do nothing... absolutely nothing in the yard.  It also made it easy to do nothing in the house too.  I like the sun shining in the windows to inspire me - at least during the spring and summer months.  In the fall and winter, it's an entirely different mindset - because - in the fall and winter, when it's darker out, it's harder to see the dirt and dust and dog hair in my house.  But the sunshine makes that hard to ignore during the lighter, longer days.  Mostly.

We watched the final three episodes of "House of Cards" on Netflix - brilliant show with Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright and I did a little laundry.  But now I'm in a rush to get some stuff done as we have house guests coming tomorrow night and I like to put guests in Blue Eyes room - furthest from all of the different noises in the house, nicest bedroom set... yada yada yada.  But Blue Eyes took that beautifully clean room I gutted and cleaned and moved everything right through the window making it impossible for me to step foot in there.  I will be throwing it all in the closet today... and beg the guests NOT to look in there.

Then I'll clean that bathroom downstairs as well as the upstairs hall bathroom for them to get themselves and their girls ready for their continued trek to Oregon on Thursday morning.  

The lawn needs mowing too...

So on Sunday I saw this on Instagram:

And I thought - I'm going to do this.  The sun is out - I love running when it's warm.  The weather seems to be leaning towards improving.  I'm GOING to do this.  Sure I go to the gym 5 days a week but it's time to change up my routine/work out - again anyhow.  So running/walking it is.

Since I skipped the weekend workouts entirely - thanks to the dreary weather - I decided to push myself yesterday by hitting the "5k" button on the newer, nicer treadmills at Golds Gym.  Okay, 3.1 miles is nothing to runners... I know.  But I haven't run in some time.  Quite some time.  I walked the first 9 minutes and 47 seconds, warming up, psyching myself up to run.  Move.  Your legs.  Move them now.  Faster.  Speed up already!  And then I ran.  And I felt soooooo good and energetic all day long.  Energetic enough to hit the gigantic pile of photos sitting on the floor in the new "book room" and the box that accompanies it.  For three hours.  I started to come across pictures that made me  go "awwweeeeee" and then "OH god!" and toss into a garbage pile.  Then some that made me laugh and then some that made me SNORT!  So that turned into a 2 hour (plus) group text with WAYNE (who hates to make the blog), Laurie, her husband Ron (via photos... classic photos), Jeff and Rich - the only non iPhone user of the group, so could not respond to us all in the thread.  As I sat there, indian style, snorting, laughing out loud at their responses and photos - I could tell I was getting a skoche stiff, likely from my short, slow run that morning.

Then I woke up this morning - having told my pal I'd meet her at the gym at 8 AM.  She texted she was on her way out the door, I was shortly behind, but I live a minute and a half from the gym and she's out a bit.  I had gotten in a warm up on the treadmill before she arrived and when I started to jog - every bone in my rear and quads was, well, tender.  But I pushed that button again and went another 5K - only this time, walked the entire "cool down" of 5 minutes which I did not do yesterday.  I was slower today and I'm already walking painfully awkward - but my mind feels springtime fresh because I love a goal... competition...  working toward something.  

It's funny how I always describe The Wiz/#7 as being uber competitive and that everything is a competition for him... I think I might resemble that remark a little.  <yikes>  In this case though - it's a good thing.  Right?

Here's a few photos from last nights cruel picture group chat...  Crikey.  Enjoy!

Sweet hat Ron!

Why were glasses so big?

  

See caption above.

Poor Jeff.  Home haircuts were the worst.

Important to note Wayne's mullet.

Poor Shane.  But great memory for Wayne, Jeff and I.  Though pretty sure this was Fireball and my night as well.

Rich is standing on a box?  Wayne knew back then he didn't want to be on the blog (courtesy Laurie Oules).