Before you read this or take anything I say to heart, you should know a little about me and my taste in books.  I did not understand The Purpose Driven Life and I couldn’t make it through The Birth Order Book, however I am giving Dr. Kevin Leman another chance when I read Have a New You by Friday.  I’m sure that will all work out perfectly.  Probably not THIS Friday, as in today, but by NEXT Friday for sure, all new me.  I said previously that I couldn’t make it through a self-help book to save my life, which I thought was pretty funny ifIdosaysomyself, so I very much enjoy fiction. 

Okay, I’ll just say it, OUT.LOUD., I’m a fan of the Twilight series.  I have found that there are two very different groups of people when it comes to the Twilight series, those that read it and love it and those that have an incredibly hostile stance against why they won’t read it.  They look at it as some sort of badge of honor to say they’ve never read the Twilight series and seem to judge you for having read it.  I’ve found it to be very polarizing and have been almost embarrassed in certain circles to say I’ve read it and read it and read it again, so I usually only say I’ve read it once and not the amount of times I actually have.  And I’m really only talking about Breaking Dawn, which was my favorite.

I also enjoyed The Davinci Code as a work of fiction.  I actually went to a book club at my church and there was an uproar of how it was trying to pass as a non-fiction book and I said, It says right at the beginning…..well, I ran upstairs to get the exact quote, but can’t find my book.  Book thieves, obviously.  Anyway, it said something like, Everything but the architecture is fiction.  And I trust you, Dan Brown.  He also had other books that I enjoyed very much that were not religious at all in nature, Deception Point and Digital Fortress.  I actually had a conversation with my dad about TDC and asked if he’d read it, to which he replied, No, because I’m a Christian and I don’t believe any of that.  Okay, well, I don’t believe there was actually a cat with a hat that ate green eggs and ham either because I recognize fiction when I read it.  I also like Dan Brown’s style of writing because it seems like there was no good place to put it down so you had to just keep reading.

Let me say one more thing.  A few years ago I was listening to NPR and the host, a liberal, shhhhhh, was talking about going to a book convention and how no one reads anymore and since parents don’t read, it’s less likely that their children will read.  Now, I was too busy raising three kids on my own to be able to just sit and enjoy a book, but I worked it into our routine and we started having reading time before the girls went to bed.  I would read to Tenderheart and then she would go to sleep and the older girls and I would just read.  I try to do that now because I do want them to be readers and enjoy books.   In such a digital age, I love seeing them when they get excited about a book they’re reading.

All that being said in the longest intro ever recorded in history, I read The Host by Stephenie Meyer.  Now, I was against this book in the beginning.  As a fan of the Twilight series and not really being a Sci-Fi fan, I avoided it for years.  I just now went on her website and it says, “Science fiction for people who don’t like science fiction”, and that could not have been more true.  Where was that quote in 2008 when the book came out and I decided I didn’t want to read it?  Oh, on her website?  Yeah, probably.  I guess I’m not that big a fan.  I think the problem was I didn’t read a synopsis of it and I thought it was more like the movie Species, which you’ll have to research on your own.

Side note:  I was not a fan of Avatar.  I felt like it was a little too political for my liking and I’m not political AT ALL.  Yeah, the special effects were great, but stealing a planet and killing a people for something called unobtanium?  Really, James Cameron, I get the comparison and I’ll watch the news or Dances with Wolves if I want to see that.  This side note will be important in just a minute, be patient.

So back to The Host and my reluctance.  I heard they were making it into a movie, which was also my catalyst for reading Water for Elephants.  I like when they make books into movies, but I like reading the book first.  I also like knowing who’s reportedly going to play the parts so I can visualize it better.  In this case the main character is played by the little girl I HATED (her character) in Atonement, but liked very much in Hanna.  I feel conflicted every time I see her in something. 

So in the story, basically Earth is taken over by a group of alien beings that host into humans because they like exploring new universes and have found the humans to be too violent.  See my side note above because this is where she almost lost me.  And then I thought, how nice would it be if we did have a peaceful planet where there wasn’t so much violence.  Really, how bad could it be?  However, the way the aliens were doing it was cutting open the back of the host’s neck and inserting themselves on their spinal column thus rendering the human inside the body useless.  The aliens were called souls. 

So there’s this little group of survivors (isn’t there always?) that are living in caves and that’s how they’re surviving.  Melanie Stryder is going around with another human she picked up on a raid and her brother, but she gets caught and hosted, which actually sounds pleasant if you think about it in terms of a party.  There was certainly a party going on in her head because Melanie was not about to give up mind control to her new soul living there and she ended up getting the soul, named Wanderer or Wanda (get it?), to go find her family.  Well, the group of 35 rebels knew she had been taken over and were not about to let her near her family, but her uncle also couldn’t kill her.  They let her in and took care of her for a while until (spoiler alert)…wait, I wonder if I should give up the ending or just tell you what I thought about it?  I’ve never done one of these.  Give me a minute…..

I have made an executive decision and decided I’m not going to tell you what happens, although it’s been out since 2008 and if you haven’t read it by now, are you really going to?  But then I just did.  *Conflicted* 

Okay, I’m for sure not going to tell you the ending.  I am going to tell you that I liked it very much.  If I had a scale, I would give it two feet up, as in I sat in my recliner or bed with my feet up reading this for two days straight.  It started out a little confusing because she jumps right into the story, but keep going because it all makes sense.  One comment, not necessarily a complaint, I had was, Oh, it’s Stephenie Meyer so you know there won’t be a sex scene, and there wasn’t.  There was an awkward conversation about birth control, but aren’t all conversations about birth control awkward?  Just ask the girls on Teen Mom and there seem to be a plethora of them.

So just let me know if you want me to read something of yours, and listed below are just a few examples of what you could put on your book jacket,

“Christyd4 of WordPress gives it two enthusiastic feet up!!”  – Wait, I might need to work on my rating scale.

“Christyd4 says, Get over your politics and entertain me!”

“Christyd4 says, Aliens in my head?  Yes, please.”

Obviously, I’ll work on it for your specific book jacket.  And now that you know a little about me and my taste in books, I promise the next review will be much shorter; and according to Dr. Kevin Leman, I’ll be a whole new me by next Friday so maybe it will also be more entertaining.

I mean, did I not put up enough cute pet pictures?  Did you not see Molly?

Cutest, sweetest, most awesome puppy EVER!!

And though my 2011 sounded like a bad country song where I lost my dog and my job (both pronounced with long O’s), I realize my problems are first world problems.  I’m thankful every day that I’m not digging a well for clean water or living in Columbia.  EVERY.DAY.    So in the future I will try to be more uplifting.  Unfortunately, the future’s not today. 

I went shopping for an electric blanket.  A cheap one, maybe one on clearance would have been nice.  I sleep in the basement, which is always freezing and even with flannel sheets, I need an electric blanket.  The blanket I currently have is a few years old and I keep having to turn it up higher but it doesn’t heat up very fast, and I’m afraid it’s going to short out and fry me.  Again, all first world problems.  

The problem with electric blanket shopping for a queen bed, which I have, is there are two controllers.  Apparently single people aren’t allowed to have queen beds because I feel like that second controller is just mocking me as it sits unused.  Yes, I’m sure I could turn on both sides and get it all toasty for my one person, but I don’t need all that, I only sleep on the right side of the bed.  In the past I bought a Full size, which fit just fine and there was no extra controller telling me I’m going to die alone, probably under the faulty electric blanket I have right now.

TRANSITION

Sunshine has found a new YouTube channel that I’m enjoying very much.  It’s not for the conservative viewer/reader, but I find this girl very funny.  It started a few weeks ago when Sunshine started speaking strangely and quoting things I hadn’t heard before.  Now, if you know me, which who does, then you know my family quotes a lot of stuff.  From Forest Gump to Toddlers and Tiaras, we watch and retain way too much useless information in our heads.  So for Sunshine to be coming up with this new stuff I didn’t recognize, I just had to know.  Anyway, huge buildup short, it’s Daily Grace. 

DING!

I am fascinated by people.  FASCINATED.  Especially creative people who figure out a way to make a living either vlogging or blogging or anything where they don’t really have to leave their house.  So from what I can tell, Daily Grace has been around in one form or another for a few years and I asked Sunshine, Does she do a vlog every day?  To which Sunshine said, Yeah, that’s why she calls it Daily Grace.  Awwwwww, that Sunshine did not get spanked enough as a child.

So to call me fascinated by the whole thing is a bit of an understatement, govenah as I stayed up three hours one night just watching her videos.  She’s very funny and she has a theme every day.  I haven’t watched enough in a row to know what day is what, but like Thursday is How-To and Wednesday is Reviewing something.  One of her Thursday How-To’s is the reason Sunshine made me get brownie mix and funfetti cake mix for a recipe, which I’m sure will put us all in a diabetic coma.

I’m always trying to figure out a way to make my blog into just one something that I never thought about doing something different every day (or two or three days), which brings me to my big announcement.  I felt silly writing that because there’s really no big announcement, but I decided I’m going to start reviewing things.  I have a face for blogging so don’t expect any vlogs from me anytime soon, but I’m going to start with books and movies. 

For the books, I got an iPad for my 40th birthday last year and got the Overdrive app where I’m able to get library books.  Mostly I’ve been reading self-help, which I can not get through to save my life, so I gave up and read a guilty pleasure book, which I loved and just finished tonight.  I think I’m going to start with that one just to get it out of my head because it’s haunting my dreams.  Then I have a couple more that my awesome cousin sent me.  Are you excited?  No?  Well, I am.

I’d love to be organized enough to do a year in review by month for 2011, but I’m not.  You know what’s bad about a blog?  I get to go back and see what I didn’t accomplish based on my 2010 goals.  Depressing really.  So to the best of my memory, 2011 wasn’t great and it didn’t actually rain men in 2010. I need another new motto.

Here are the highlights I remember most.  In March, my boss told me I absolutely could NOT go on a cruise to the Panama Canal in April even though I had the time off I needed.  Then in September, he let me go, so I might as well have gone on that cruise when I had the chance.

We got a puppy from the Dumb Friends League in March.  I like to say we rescued her, but she was a puppy and was going anyway. 

Meet Molly

And not to be outdone by Moonshine getting a puppy, Sunshine had to get a kitten, Buffy, who ended up being Buford when we found that he had balls.

Meet Buford

I turned 40 in June and had an awesome trip to Niagara Falls, Canada and New York and got an iPad 2.  My family is so amazing and that was one of the best trips ever taken, except maybe the Panama Canal one that could have possibly been even better had I been allowed to take it.  I’m not bitter. 

Maid of the Mist

Let’s see, out of the 22 blogs I did last year I think most of them were about how my kids were driving me crazy.  The monkey didn’t star in any except the first one of the year where I wished he would stop living the minute he left me.  You’ll have to find that one on your own.  Also, I’d link to my 2010 Newsletter, but then you’ll see that I did nothing I wanted to this year and might realize I’m kind of a loser.  So let’s just pretend that doesn’t exist.

I’m going to take a blurb out of a Family Newsletter that my mom got this year that made me laugh.  About halfway down while talking about one of their sons they mentioned that he decided not to go through with the wedding and was single again, which made me wonder if the previous year’s newsletter proudly announced his engagement.  Maybe that’s why I’m okay if my family newsletter is only read by my 2.5 readers because they probably don’t care that I didn’t reach one single goal from 2010.

Fine, here they are:

Never mind, WordPress isn’t letting me link so just assume they’re as depressing as I’ve said and that I haven’t accomplished anything.

Another awesome trip we took this year was to see a college for Sunshine.  Durango, Colorado is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been to and I hope one of my children decide to go to Ft. Lewis so I’ll have an excuse to move down there.  Or I’ll just move there when the last one is out of the house.  I’m going somewhere that’s for sure.
I have found a way to talk to Moonshine better, but not until we had a very tumultuous Christmas with Sunshine and Moonshine continuing their bickering streak.  Tonight, I heard them laughing and talking about something and wished they would do that more often.  They have so much in common if they’d just get over themselves and communicate.  Awwwww, teen angst.  I love it.   And by “love”, I mean loathe.

Back to 2011.  Yeah, it sucked.  I stopped working out, I stopped showering every day, I stopped having a regular job, I stopped having insurance, and we lost our dog. 

We Miss You, Angel

  It was a horrible funk year and I can only pray that 2012 is better. 

Aren’t you glad you waited until January 10th to read about all this?

And guess what, that’s not all.  I’m also working on my very own personal year in review.  It’s going to be stellar….or moderately readable.  Expectations low.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys (ha!) prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 1,400 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 23 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

I was going to blog about friends.  I find it hard as an adult to make new friends.  Of course, this is coming from someone who doesn’t have any friends from high school, so it’s also hard for me to maintain friendships. 

Side note:  I find it so fascinating when people are still best friends with someone they went to high school with.  Aren’t you sick of those people by now??  Haven’t you heard all their stories?  This coming from someone who still considered my best friend from high school my “best friend” five years after we stopped speaking, but only so I could say I still had a best friend.

Maybe I’m not a very good friend.  I’m going to think about that for a minute…..yeah, I’m not that great a friend.  But I’m a good friend to have, if you can put up with me.  I’m the kind of friend that had my friend and her two toddlers stay with me for a month before they relocated to another state.  I’m the kind of friend that will drive you to the airport or watch your kids and/or dog.  I’m the kind of friend that will  housesit for you when you’re out-of-town and consider that my vacation. 

I’m telling you, I’m a darn good friend to have, I just don’t seem to have that many.  Here’s the kind of friendship I need.  I need to be able to not talk to you for months, but when I do, it’s as though no time has passed.  I’m not a great day-to-day friend, but I’m there if you don’t need a lot of maintenance.  I literally could go DAYS without talking to people, but when I’m in the mood to talk, you can’t shut me up.

Facebook is perfect for people like me.  I’d like to see what you’re up to, but don’t really want to see you in person (with few exceptions, but you probably don’t know who you are).  I like to look at pictures of your family, but I’m probably not going to attend a reunion.  I like to make snarky comments on your posts and have you think I’m marginally funny, but let’s not meet for coffee.  However, if you’re in Colorado and need a place to stay, I’ve got the room.  I realize how weird that sounds.

I’ll read your blog and comment (hint, hint), I’ll like the pictures of your kids,  I’ll drive you to and/or from the auto shop, I’ll even have an incredibly long e-mail relationship with you; just don’t expect me to call you every day.

My sister and I used to play a game where we would literally drool and say, Will you be my friend?  I realize now that it was probably really offensive, but as kids we thought it was hilarious.  There’s someone new I want to be friends with right now and Sunshine accuses me of being a stalker.  So how do you make friends as an adult? 

The problem is I’m socially awkward.  Once you get to know me, you would think I’m an extrovert, but I really have a lot of social anxiety in new situations.  Do you know how many people I’ve worked with that have said, When I first met you I thought you were a rhymes with witch, but you’re really nice/awesome/fill in the blank?  Let’s just say it’s been more than one. 

I did just meet a new friend that had a table next to me at my first craft fair who I found to be awesome, but it literally took me an hour and a half of sitting next to her to actually say anything to her.  I just don’t know what to say to people I guess.  I’m terrible at parties where I don’t know anyone.  Either I run out of things to say, or as you can imagine, I completely overshare.  And I can hear myself say in my head, Shut up, Christy; but I just keep talking so there’s no lull in the conversation. 

I was in a situation last week where I had to make small talk and a woman I’d met before and would love to be her friend asked me how my Thanksgiving was.  I said, Well, my dog died and my kids went to their dad’s so it wasn’t great. 

I’m serious when I say I’m a bad country song.  I lost my job, I lost my dog, my pickup’s broke down.  Okay, I don’t have a pickup, but that’s really all I’m missing.

When I saw the look on her face, I said, I’m sorry, you probably just wanted to hear “Fine”.  And she said, No, it wasn’t fine so that’s okay.  Then she sat at my table for lunch with two other women and I just listened because I couldn’t get in a word.  I love when I sit with other oversharers, it’s like a friendship made in heaven.

Okay, so here’s the part where you put in your application to be my friend.  Kidding.  There’s really no good way to wrap this up except to say that at 40, I’m still a work in progress.  Will you be my friend?

“Where’s the Line?” should be tattooed on me somewhere because I have no idea where any line is whether something I say be offensive or funny, appropriate or inappropriate.  I enjoy a good shock value like no one’s business and I’ll say something and Sunshine will say, Yup, too much, you passed the line way back there.  But you also have no idea how much I have in my head that I don’t say so I guess I have a vague idea of where the line might be, I just all too often go over it. 

Back to privacy.  The problem we’re having is cell phones.  Moonshine cleans her phone like a crime scene if it’s not going to be in her possession for more than 5 seconds.  Is that normal?  My thought is, if you have nothing to hide, you don’t hide anything.  Okay, I got that from Dr. Phil, but really, it’s sound advice. 

Moonshine and I actually had a stand-off because she refused to give me her password.  REFUSED.  How dare you?  So I took her phone and put in every password I could think of until it locked her out and had to be reset thus losing all her information.  Take that, Moonshine.  And how do I have a stand-off with a 13-year-old?  I’d say I’ve completely lost control, but I’m sure I didn’t have any to begin with. 

I told Moonshine that she can have privacy when she pays her rent and cell phone bill.  Is that too harsh?  I really don’t know.  And it’s not like I ransack her room looking for a journal.  I mostly stay out of their rooms until the door won’t close because dirty clothes are marching down the hallway.  I’ve said on more than one occasion, If you don’t want me in your room, don’t give me a reason to come in there.  In other words, keep it clean and I have no reason to go in there. 

Now, I do have good kids.  I’ve told you before about Sunshine’s inability to lie to me.  But she’s weird about her phone too.  I do know the password but I never want to go through it until she’s weird about it.  And I have a little PTSD about people keeping secrets from me.  I get crazy and my thoughts go off the rails.  So is Moonshine sexting?  Is she cooking meth like Breaking Bad?  Please don’t leave me with my own imagination.  Turns out Moonshine was only venting about how annoying I am and how I don’t make tacos as good as her step-mom.  In my defense, I’m white, she’s not, so I feel like she has an advantage making tacos.  Stereotype?  Maybe.  Across the line?  Who knows?    So yes, her texts were hurtful, but ultimately not dangerous.   Thank God. 

And I completely understand needing privacy, but the difference is that I’m the adult.  Yeah, I am.  But I have rules like they can’t read my blog, I don’t like them going through my room, and I also pay the bills.  Is that fair?

Tell me, how much privacy should you give your child?  Knowing that I was a child that lied about everything and hid liquor in my closet, now how much privacy should I give my kids?  And I’m not raising me, as my sister will tell you, (Thank GOD), and I do have great kids, but am I going to know if one of them goes off the rails?  And how?  Okay, I just need someone to tell me the future, and how much privacy you give your kids and we can go from there.

And it just figures that the blog I would do about Tenderheart isn’t about how awesome she is, but about how she’s driving me nuts.  She is forgetful.  We had a period of about a week a couple of weeks ago where I was mad at her every day I took her to school because she’d forgotten something or she’d made us late because she couldn’t find something.  Not making me late, of course, as I am sans job, but late to her school.  I don’t know how many times we’ve had the discussion (read argument) about how she needs to get her stuff together and keep her stuff together.  As in, Get it together, foo’!!

After all these discussions (read arguments) that we’ve had, you might think she would be making progress, but this morning when I dropped her off at the bus and asked her if she had her volleyball stuff for the game today, I got the blankest stare you’ve ever seen.  As in, Volleyball? I play volleyball? Huh??  My head almost exploded.  Like seriously, EXPLODED!!  So here’s my question, do I just let her fail or do I keep coming to the rescue so there are no consequences?

I’m going to go into a little “kids these days” like someone’s grandpa, but really, have you seen kids these days?  They can’t even pull up their pants.  I don’t have boys, but would like to know the logistics of how they keep them up while hitting about mid-hip.  Back to Tenderheart, do you know how many days she has walked out of the house in a skirt and flats on a snow day, with no coat, no hat, no gloves, nothing?  You probably don’t, but I’m going to say more than once.  And I have made this general announcement to everyone: It’s December, you’re going to need your big coat every day.  Not just on days that start with W, but also on days that end in Y.  EVERY.DAY.

You’d think that statement would mean something, but just yesterday I made her come back in the house to put on actual pants instead of a skirt, making us run late again.  There’s snow on the ground here, people.  And I completely appreciate her unique style, but at some point do people look at me and think we can’t afford a coat?  or what kind of parent am I for letting her go out of the house without one?

And ultimately, here’s the problem.  I was exactly like her.  I would be sitting on the bus in my Brownie uniform and forgetting there was a meeting after school.  My sister, on more than one occasion, would have to get on the bus and say something to the effect of, You’re in your uniform, you idiot, go to your Brownie meeting.  I’m paraphrasing, but you get the jist.  I can also tell you that if I forgot my homework at home, my mom was not bringing it to me at school.  I was out of luck. 

But what do I do on the day Tenderheart forgets her bra??  (seriously?  Yeah.)  Is she just out of luck?  Or does she have to sit the bench because she forgot her uniform for the game?  I know she’s at school today sweating because she doesn’t know if I’m going to take it to her or not.  (I did take her a bra that day, I’m not a monster.)  But then how does she learn? 

And I’m going to go one step further and say it’s not just Tenderheart.  Sunshine called me this morning because today’s the deadline to have her money in for her college testing.  Has she known this for months?  Yeah, she has.  But do I not take her the money and she not take the tests?  My problem is I don’t know where to let them fail, thus presumably learning not to forget things, and when I bail them out because the consequences are too harsh.  Anyone got any ideas?  Don’t be afraid to comment.  I won’t hunt you down if I don’t like your answer….or will I?

Mostly the fighting involves Sunshine and Moonshine, but sometimes it trickles down to Tenderheart and she might be the snottiest of them all by the time all is said and done. 

Some days I feel like I’m just holding on until everyone goes to college and then they’ll never speak again.  And then I wonder if that would be so bad.  Maybe having siblings is overrated. 

Sunshine thinks she should have been an only child.  Moonshine thinks she always gets picked on.  Tenderheart can’t wait until those two go off to college and it’s just the two of us.  They all have their own dynamic and I, being just one person, have a really hard time catering to all of their personalities and needs.  Most days I feel like I fall short. 

My sister and I have come around and have a better relationship now than we did as kids, but I always hoped there was a way to get around all the bad stuff and arguments and live in some sort of fantasy land where everyone loves each other and supports each other and not a harsh word is spoken.  Really, is that too much to ask??  Apparently.

Here Sunshine pretends to snap Tenderheart's neck as Moonshine wonders how to escape.

So here’s the funny part.  For two years after I met my friend Heather, she would think I was crazy when I would talk about how my children fight and the way Sunshine talks to the other two.  Because when we go in public, we are “happy family” where if you didn’t know us, you’d think my kids were the most well-behaved, loving, kind people.  And they really are, but sometimes the way they talk to each other makes me cringe.  Does anyone else have sibling issues?

A couple of months ago, my friend was asking Sunshine where she wants to go to college and she said NYU is her dream.  I said she can’t wait to get away from me.  Then Sunshine said she would like to go somewhere in the mountains.  I had never heard her say that before and I immediately thought of Ft. Lewis.  It sits on top of a plateau in the middle of the mountains and you really can’t get a prettier campus.   And we couldn’t have picked a prettier day.

Now, I am not one of those people who live vicariously through my children, my sister might say something different.  I had never even mentioned that college or my dream of going there.  Sunshine is very head strong and I can’t even mention I like a shirt too much or it goes back on the rack, so I certainly wasn’t going to go on and on about Ft. Lewis like I wanted to.  I knew I had to play it cool.  Like, Oh, I think there’s a good college in Durango and Durango’s in the mountains. You know, use really short sentences. 

I went online and requested a packet of information be sent to her.  Then I saw they were giving tours during the week of fall break, but she had rehearsal so we couldn’t go then.  I e-mailed and they were doing a special weekend tour that Saturday so I signed us up.  Then I casually mentioned that they were giving a tour for some other people and it would be fun to go down and just look around.  Take a family trip, which we never get to do and go hiking and just look around the town.  They had a discount through a Best Western and I packed food so we did it for a pretty reasonable price.  We left on Friday after her rehearsal and got there at like midnight. It was our first trip with Molly, who didn’t pee until 3:00 PM on Saturday, which you don’t really need to know about. 

If you haven’t been to Durango, Colorado, what are you waiting for?  The leaves were turning and the weather was perfect, not too cold.  There wasn’t any snow yet except on the mountain passes we had to go over to get there.  It’s in a little valley, but the college is above the town on a plateau. Beautiful. 

Do you see the town down below?

And the tour guide was awesome until she jokingly insulted “theater people”.  As in, “you know theater people.  Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”  She talked about all the stuff there was to do for “outdoors people” and also there was a lot for people who weren’t.  I told Sunshine that they had a lot of stuff to do for people who didn’t normally do a lot of outdoors stuff and she said, But I want to be an outdoors person. 

The tour ended and we went back to the room to get Moonshine, Tenderheart, and Molly so they could see the campus and then we went downtown and hiking.   We walked around downtown and then found a hiking path that was near our hotel. 
We hiked by the river until the sun went behind the mountain and it started getting cold.  I went spinning through the falling leaves when I turned around and some D-bag was making fun of my spinning.  I won’t say I hope he dies in a fiery crash, but you can.  And it  didn’t stop me from spinning as the leaves fell on my head.  It was a scene from a movie, just beautiful. 

After our hike we went back to the room and the girls and I played cards and told stories and laughed.  Every hand of cards I went around and asked them a new question.  Your favorite song, favorite movie, favorite book, favorite memory.  And to be honest, that was my favorite memory.  Just all of us there having fun.  No one fighting.  So whether she goes to Ft. Lewis or not, that weekend will be remembered as one of the best trips we’ve ever taken.

Guess what I haven’t been doing in my 2.2 months of unemployment – blogging, working out, showering every day….you get the idea.  My kids call me NJC for no job Christy.  As in, “I love NJC, she’s fun”.  I am much less stressed during the day and more laid back about going to get them after rehearsals or taking them to appointments because I don’t have to juggle all that with an actual job.  And Sunshine is driving now so that helps me out a lot.  The monkey got her a car for her birthday, which was actually his older daughter’s old car, but it runs *knock wood* and except for the past few days when it’s been snowy, she’s been using it to get herself to and from school. 

How about an update.  You know you want one.  Sunshine was in Fiddler in November.  She played Chava and it was the first role she’s had with lines so she was so excited.  My whole family came in to see her and it was so nice that they did.  And I have some really awesome friends that came out as they do every year.  Also, Sunshine actually did better with the stress this year than years past and I think it’s just maturity.  She’s the white witch in Narnia at the end of January and that’s a lot more lines so we’ll see how that goes.

Moonshine and Tenderheart are playing volleyball for two different schools and that keeps me busy.  Moonshine doesn’t have a boyfriend and I think she secretly blames me for making her turn down everyone last year so they’re not asking her out this year.   If only she’d focus more on schoolwork than she does on boys, my life would be a lot  easier.

Tenderheart comes home every day talking about some kind of drama at school.  It’s her first year of middle school and boy, is there drama.  She had a little boy ask her to the Halloween dance and she said she’d go as a friend.  Then he asked her later if she’d be his girlfriend.  She said no, and then he uninvited her to the dance and he didn’t even end up going.  Who does that?  Jerks, that’s who.  Tenderheart also said she wants a stepdad, but I worry about how that will affect our family dynamic, not that there are any prospects out there.

As for me, besides not taking showers every day or working out or blogging, apparently I do craft fairs now.  Or I did anyway.  I did two and the first one I made my money back and had a great time.  The second one, not so much.  I mean, I had a good time, but it was much bigger and a lot harder to stand out.  It’s not like I thought I was going to get rich on bookmarks and personalized ornaments, but I also wouldn’t have turned down some extra Christmas money.  People make money doing craft fairs, I just don’t know how I guess.   The girl I did the second craft fair with sells scrabble tiles that she makes into pendants and she made a killing.  Me, not so much. 

A shorter list of things I have been doing since I’ve been out of work for 2.2 months, napping, school work, laundry, personalized ornaments, napping.  I do enjoy a good siesta.  And on Wednesday I’m going to drive for Sunshine’s school again to help take her theater group to perform at elementary schools.  They perform at one school for children that have serious illnesses and if that doesn’t put your life in perspective, then you have no soul.