it's always something

total plug

i found heaven on earth.

though it seems everyone else knew about this -and didn't care to share it with me.

so i'm sharing it with those of you who don't know already-

SAFEWAY ONLINE/HOME DELIVERY ROCKS!!!!

i was skeptical - i admit.

but i got online, had choices and sales and it was EASY and i could watch my bill so i knew where i was in my grocery budget...

and james brought my order to my door - and it was GRAND!

the produce was yummy and it was all Exactly As I Ordered It!

 

and i didn't have to drag two toddlers, before, during or after nap time and try to wrestle them into the cart where they would stand on and eat the groceries or push them around in the stroller where i could only fit in part of my order or have one in the cart and one on my back where he could REACH items on the shelf...

 

and i didn't have to wait until saturday,  when my husband actually had some time off, to leave for a couple of hours for fun stuff like Groceries... seriously, if i'm leaving them, i'm going to the scrapbook store, or target, or a movie for crying out loud...

 

and it's all here, no extras that i was weak and put in the basket to quiet a screaming toddler or to eventually quiet me after the screaming toddler ...

I LOVE YOU SAFEWAY HOME DELIVERY!!

life savers aren't always round... (whatever the hell that means)

 

soap box

okay.

i am a grammar snob. this is not something i hide, though i don't (think) i'm obnoxious unless i'm alone and reading something. heh.

however, i do criticize places that really should have it together. like the evening news. (no that was not a complete sentence - creative license...)

so when the news-caster uses a phrase that, while unfortunately common, is totally off the map incorrect, i'm going to yell.

please tell me what a "nother" is.  as in "a whole nother".

the comment is intending to say "another whole" as in additionally separate or "a whole other" as in completely different - but along with "gonna", which my mother used to correct relentlessly, thank you, truly, for that, mom!,  to others that i probably shouldn't mention to avoid finding myself in trouble...  it has taken on another whole life of american slur.  it is an easy trip - but man, it's so bad! and when the news anchor says "a whole nother" i just cringe and wonder, was it him or the teleprompter that showed up lazy?

ugh.

there was a sign staked in the ground in several areas in phoenix about which, i am sure, the boys and chris were tired of hearing . the sign said "we remove and trim trees".  why do they need trimming if you have removed them?

yes, i freak out when people use "less" in place of "fewer" and other minor infractions that are generally mistaken, but this one gets me.  it was On The News!

all emails about my grammar snobbiness and my selective use of capital letters can be sent directly to   terihatfield@hotmail.com.

okay, i feel better... for now. i will find a whole other something to complain about tomorrow...

more of not much

the spring is on its way here - which is just ubelievably amazing... the mornings and evenings are cool and the days are some sunny and some rainy - you know, spring!

the longer i am here the more i realize i really do love being here - and as much i really love being out of the desert. sorry - but it just IS.

in the meantime - someone has been bogarting my iPod...

 

he's enjoying a little justin timberlake and madonna there -

this weekend, we were invited to check out a cool park along lake washington. we didn't get a chance to look around to see the sound garden the band took their name from or the hangar that richard gere and louis gossett jr. went after each other in An Officer and A Gentleman, but we did get a chance to enjoy some warm weather and some sun - a great play park -

 

(will left, david right)

 

david played a lot - will really wanted to walk and walk and walk - he enjoyed walking along the sidewalk to the edge where the woodchips were in the play area - he would get down on all fours, climb over into the woodchips, stand back up, take a few steps, turn around, get on all fours, climb onto the sidewalk and stand up again for more walking. we could have done that alll day!

 

david and madison - one of the few times all of the kids were in the same spot -

 

i'm not really sure who enjoyed the day more -

parks are fantastic here and we need them, having the boys sort of cooped up in the aparment during the week.

just another good weekend - Prasie God!

 

does he not belong in a cereal commercial?

something made me think of him

i had a cat named topher. this was, actually before i had a husband named chris.

i rescued topher from the animal shelter in colorado springs. my then-husband was preparing to leave for boot camp and i really wanted someone to come home to.

so this little, black tortise-shell colored cat caught me. i remember he was the one that was talking to me. literally - "hey, chick, i'm sick of it here, puuulease". and so topher came home.

he was boy cat through and through, attacking everything possible, including every ornament on the christmas tree he could reach - walking through the door one evening, the bottom half of the tree was bare and topher was asleep in the chair - clearly worn out from the task he had recently completed. he would climb the curtain covering the sliding glass door - the one that had the sun-baked hangers - and break them all so we had nothing to really hang the curtain on.

topher took road trips with us to virginia where we lived with the crazy landlord who tried to break into ur apartment. then, he flew to germany to live with us. hung out on the ledge by the front window and played with the little bell balls on the wood floor around 2 in the morning and i would have to get up and confiscate the thing - to which he usually looked at me like i just took his last best friend. he was a great cat - friendly but not overly.

when he took the long trip to germany, it was only after we had been there for several months so that we actually had quarters (an apartment) and were ready for him. i was about 6 months pregnant with kyle and was reading the ann landers in The Stars and Stripes paper the day before he arrived - the article was from a woman who had sent her cat on a plane and the cat had escaped and wandered on flights and through airports finally turning up at some random airport far from where he was supposed to be some three weeks after his scheduled arrival. the pregnancy hormones kicked in and i did not sleep a wink that night and couldn't reach the airport soon enough the next day. his cage arrived, upside down and full of the shredded newspaper the airlines required  - and i couldn't see a cat!  we cut the tie and opened the door and i shoved my hand in ... there was topher - and sure as it happened yesterday i can see his face "are we about through with This Crap???". 

either travel or change in water or the fact that he didn't speak german - he wound up fairly constipated shortly after his arrival in country. 

i found a vet on base and took him in.

the vet was from a country where they did not speak any understandable language and english was certainly not his strong suit. i gathered after several "i'm sorry -- huh"? that the vet's recommendation was an enema.

for my cat.

right then.

i'm seven or eight months pregnant by then and i'm holding down my cranky, constipated cat while the vet and tech shove a tube up his - well- where they need to in order to perform an enema and topher had those "are we done with This Crap" eyes again.

i didn't know how long it would take to clear out and somehow thought i would get him home and have to watch him, but the doc, finishing up his rudeness, said "okay - take him outside".  and i realize, they just shoved a bunch of water up there, "evacuation" would be happening soon - so there i was, huge pregnant (kyle was not smallest baby around) running down the hall and out the door with my cat, butt up in the air, trying to get him outside before it all really hit the fan.

only it's my cat. and performing in public was not his Thing. so no immediate affects from the enema. doctor tries again.

yes - he does.

and the pregnant lady is running with a cat's butt in the air once again - to no avail.

i finally convince the vet that i was sure if i could get topher home he could relax and surely the water would to the trick...

topher did relax at home - but i think only to avoid going back to the good doctor.

he hung with us through moves and kids and weird vets.

we lost him our first year in phoenix - 15 years ago. 

and tonight he's on my brain... 

evening breath

it's a chilly evening - storm clouds slowly rolling in, but they are high in the sky and not terribly intimidating. it's been a toddler-full day and i'm ready for a break. i think of my friends and family in triple-digit weather as i pull on my "seattle" sweatshirt-jacket that i put back on the rack three times before finally dropping $45 on it during one of my many trips here several years ago.  i grab my phone, never go on a walk without it - because that One time you forget will be the One time you see the robber running from the bank and be able to call in a detailed description, except, whoops, you didn't take your phone. phone in pocket. mail key in pocket. jack on his leash.  mixed emotions in a dog are played out in a dog happy to be with his people but missing the yard and k9 pal at the house of his borrowed people. wave a silent 'bye-bye' to chris so the babies don't go into meltdown at my departure and pull the door shut quietly. the chilly breeze tunnels through our breezeway and sends goosebumps down my arms and back. i pull up the zipper and stick in the second ear bud - look at the ipod and find a good song - turn it up. way up-to drown out the day and the worries and match the beat with my step - which isn't easy up this monster hill. 

i take a deep breath of cool, spring air - a hint of rain and wet wood ... my shoulders relax a little. up the hill, i'm pulling the dog who wants to sniff every square inch he passes. we hit a bit of a stride and the cars pass by quickly, trees and bushes wave with the wind along the creek. i sing with the ipod because i don't care who hears, or rather i don't think anyone will hear as i walk along the street. there is the apartments i pass, run down and somewhat creepy, but the unkept landscape only makes it look homey, the street we cross minding the traffic. the neighborhood center (yes, starbucks) pizza, drug store, local bank (i have my phone) gym. i see the set of stairs and think of adam, he'd love to skate that. walk through the pile of flower petals settling against the grass. let jack run in the grass a bit, stretch the legs, the 8" legs. we walk along the storefronts and set off the door sensors so they open and the wind blows in... skip a few songs to the ones i need to keep the momentum going. i breathe in a long breath and pick up my pace. jack and i head back down the hill, sniffing several important spots along the way. i see a jar of lilacs on a kitchen window and smile with envy as i forgot to pick the lilac flowers that were at safeway last friday. we turn the last corner back towards home and the apartment on the second floor of another building has a british flag as a curtain and i think of kyle.  decide to skip the mail and turn to the path along the back of the apartments, one last little hill along the creek where the alien plants are. wonder how the babies are doing since they are due for some jammies and milk. feel the slight bit of sweat on my back as the breeze flows through my jacket and leaves me cold. one more sniff at the bush jack always uses, to make sure it's still his and we stop in front of our door. i pull out one of my ear buds and turn the handle.

the boys are in their jammies and are happy to see me.

and i am happy to see them.

cheap and priceless

so david, aka 'k2' and not because he is kyle jr (although he sometimes very much is) is seriously climbing Everything - and will is following right behind - that is when he isn't sitting on the couch with a book - seriously.

i've been telling chris we need to get something that will challenge them before we find them on top of the bookshelves one day - and please know i am realistic, it's only a delay tactic.

so i looked on craigslist several times and found great little activity gym type things for $25 or so - and there was a good selection - some too big, others too small - but something would work better than the end table adam built us - to use as an end table not a baby stage.

so - comes the weekend we decide we can Do This and, of course, there is nothing on craigslist that saturday morning. chris goes to get a haircut, i stay behind to get myself and the babies ready for the day. i decide to check back and, yay, there is one that is PERFECT - not too big, not too small - read: not too high to fall for injury and not so small the bookshelf will still be more appealing.  i quickly write to the poster, noticing it has been a whopping 15 minutes. "please tell me you still have this, it's what i'm looking for!" it's only after this i notice there is no price and i'm not even sure where spanaway is...

before i can google "spanaway, wa", there is an answer in my inbox! joy - she still has it and it's only $10!!

then i google spanaway - okay so it's south. pretty far south... sort of like driving from our house in north phoenix to mid-tucson - heh.  chris gets home from his hair cut and i announce "road trip"! as we are driving, and driving and driving and passing state route after state route - none of which are numbered the one we need we start wondering just how far from the oregon state line we actually are.

but it's only $10.

then we wonder if we'll look like the ikea commercial with it strapped to the top of the car allll the way back. i did think to ask if it broke down much in order to get it into the car - and the seller, of course, says, "yes - it does quite easily". i know - it sounds like famous last words, but i'm buying this day.

it's saturday and we haven't seen this part of washington before - a whole new region - and chris has actually worked most of the previous saturdays - so this is just good time to be us. he can give me crap about buying stuff in oregon and i can remind him that it was, after all, only $10.

we finally arrived in northern california spanaway - and there is our play gym - perfect as it sits, waiting for it's crazy new owners. and, lo, it does actually break down and fit in the trunk, with exception of the slide, which sits right in the area where little boy baby legs don't quite reach yet.  and then we are off - on the trek home, a little faster route but still a bit of a trip and bonus - it is scenic.

and with the $15 in gas and $10 we gave them - it was so worth it - a pleasant drive with my husband, happy-to-be-out-of-the-house babies and a great new toy for CHEAP!

we got home and immediately washed it down and wrestled it together and - yay - it's a toddler boy room!

 

 

i think it's called a Good Saturday...

the reason i hid the cute tub stacker thing that lori gave us

 

that's not unhappiness because it's on its side - it's because his brother won't let him do this -

wild ride

there are times in life when we are just cruisin' down the road, one hand on the wheel, barely glancing at the wide, open road... you got the picture, right, top down on the faded blue caddy, one arm hanging out the window - maybe you're making waves in the wind... eaaassy. the sun is warm on your face and the air smells sweet and in that moment, life is suspended. it's a moving picture postcard. open road and no other cars in sight.

and then, well then there are times when there is semi truck riding your back bumper pushing you around a blind corner way faster than you would ever go yourself, all the crap in the back seat has you crammed against the wheel and the only station you can get on the radio is a fuzzy classical station -mocking the speed at which you are traveling. it's dark and rainy and all you can see is what your headlights are hitting, a few feet in front of you the wall of water coming At you - not down in front of you. running through your mind is only the fact that you should have replaced the bald tires when you had the money (rather than buying that new ipod that conveniently has a dead battery for this trip) and maybe even had those pulsating brakes checked instead of the new "driving sweats and shoes" you are now feeling like you might soil.

i long for my wide open road lately. as a person who prefers to have The Picture of what is to come (though i'm not a control freak - i just like to have The Picture) that blind corner is hard to take. will it stay a steady hard turn or do i need to be ready for some hairpin turns in there? tensing with each shift in momentum and holding my breath, anticipating the meeting of bald tires and speed and just enough water on the road...

one of the hardest parts for me is the feeling of not being able to pull off the road and wait it out - wait for daylight and the vision it offers. but daylight may not offer much vision and stopping simply isn't an option - laundry to be done, lunches and dinners to be made and diapers to be changed. no - keep pressing on the gas and feel the pull of the arc of the corner as you continue on.

and,  eventually - daylight will come, the semi driver's caffine high will level off, the corner has to end before you simply start completing circles, and the road - it will get to a place where it straightens out. you can see the rest stop miles out and you can plan for it. and it will be as pleasant as you hoped from so far back - offering rest and sustinance, maybe a friendly smile behind the counter. and part of you will want to stay. but you know that curiosity and where you are supposed to be calls - so you get back in and press the gas.

the comedy continues

the comedy continues -

i woke this morning, got up, leaving the babies in bed (happily an unusual event lately as they have been sleeping in their own bed!) got dressed, did my morning chores including getting my coffee going - yessss - was done a few mintues early so i switched the t.v. to on - the news was reporting of a storage fire in edmonds - not terribly far from us.

i thought 'man, it must suck to wake up and find out your storage area is on fire'...

wait - that IS our storage area!

of course it's the one story the morning news Doesn't talk about 45 times in five minutes... finally a new report, only after i've alerted chris -

it does appear our building is okay and our things are probably still in tact. i will call the office later in the day, after they've experienced their morning hell, and double check.

i think soon, chris and i might take a decent inventory of what is in there - you know After the Fire ... and dang if that isn't a good reminder of a kickass 80's song...

and yes, for you purists - this was a cover of falco's song - but it's the one that hit it big in '83 and the one i remember hearing a LOT ... thus - the best memories of my buton-fly levi's and elf boots... gosh i love it when tragedy gets me back to an awesome 80's song ...

do you smell something burning?

so occasionally you realize when the frying pan is landing squarely on your head.  or that bush is burning and it's in your front yard.

as if in a physical confirmation of my recent post, i have a frying pan shaped lump.

i have recently found some music that i really enjoy - it's been a long while since i've heard something that i want to listen to a lot - over and again. there is stuff that i like and enjoy when i hear it but nothing that i have gone out of my way to download and actually listen to - then i found saving jane . i enjoy marti dodson's voice and the guitar. i always enjoy guitar and will choose the acoustic version of anything almost every single time - and saving jane offers both versions of several of their songs. it's pop rock and i'm enjoying it. 

this morning i put on my ipod since i'd seen the mickey mouse club episode at least a ton of times and wanted to hear some music other than the hot dog dance (not that the boys aren't totally cute Doing the hot dog dance) and i was flipping around the s.j. songs and one came on that i had not heard yet - 

'you say'  

unfortunately it is a hidden track so you can't even hear a piece of it - so if you're curious, here's what left the lump on my head:

I've been calling and calling for you
But you answer and I shut my mouth
I've been searching and searching for you
But myself I don't want to be found

You say I am
You say let go
You say Believe... But it's not that easy for me
You say wait
You say right now
Don't you see you're already one foot in the ground
you say...

I've been wicked and wild and wrong and i've wondered the price of my shame.
I've been hiding my face for so long, it's a wonder that you know my name..

You say come home
You say I'm here
You say there are some things you just can't control
You say let me
You say Believe
Why do you search for the answers you already know
You say...

I am the way and the light and the Truth
Don't be misled by the flight of your youth
Faith in the things you can't see to believe
What if you had faith in me...

You say rest here, this is your home
Don't you see that you knew I was here all along
You say...

it always causes me tremendous pause when He so clearly just grabs me by the shoulders and turns me around.

if you do check s.j. out - i recommend  "girl next door" "butterflies" first - i have the girl next door album - and looking to explore more...

anyway - needed to share the latest update on my evolution as a christian always struggling through but who finds bright spots and periods of "oh, ya, heh, i get it actually"...

have to go get my latte from the frogs now -