Sunday, August 30, 2009

Quoting Change



I'm at a point in my life where I'm feeling a bit stuck and frustrated. It happens sometimes and then I have to re-evaluate and find some additional wiggle-room.

I'm at that point now. There are things in my life that I am very grateful for, but there are also things in my life that need to be fixed or tweaked or possibly put the side for awhile. Do you ever feel like that?

Change is hard and sometimes just thinking about it is exhausting. I put it off as long as possible and then I jump. It's the way I've always done things. Like jumping off a bridge and into the Klamath River when I was a kid. Actually doing it, making the leap, it is both terrifying and exhilarating.

I decided to look up some quotes that have to do with change. I love to look up quotes. If you are reading this and you'd like to share, please leave me your favorite quote in the comments.

*It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new. But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful. There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.

- Alan Cohen

*It doesn't work to leap a twenty-foot chasm in two ten-foot jumps.

-American Proverb

*Life is a process of becoming, a combination of states we have to go through. Where people fail is that they wish to elect a state and remain in it. This is a kind of death.

-Anais Nin

Friday, August 28, 2009

Unrelated Thoughts

I got a shipment of EO products today. The box was heeaaavvy. I love my job. I haven't bought any body wash for months. Max got to try the stuff out first. He took a vanilla/lavender bubble bath and washed up with Citrus body wash. I think he felt very refreshed. They make this shave cream that works really well. They have great fragrance combos like grapefruit mint and their chocolate really smells like chocolate.

I wrote this piece up today about ingredients to avoid. Parabens. Synthetic Colors. Phthlates (hard to spell). There's so many possible carcinogens out there. It's scary. If I think about it too much, it makes me scared to breathe. EO products are natural. No scary stuff.

Sarah said that she had trouble sleeping last night. Apparently Max had funny dreams and spent part of the night laughing in his sleep. I am so sorry that I missed it. He has the very best laugh ever. It goes a bit like this..... uh HUH, HUH, HUH, HUH, Huuuuhhh. Trust me, it's a good one.

I liked having him home all week. It's important that he goes to school, but having him close, where I can see him and control his environment, I feel that he's safest that way. Right now he's going, "Ohhh.........uuhhhh." I think he's playing with his voice. He is so adorable. I talked to the bus driver about the increase in his allergies since returning to school. She said that one of the other moms said the same thing. It's an old building.

Bay has a new boyfriend, but she's staying home with us tonight. She went to bed at about 6 pm yesterday. She was still sleepy when I woke her at 7am. Could she be going through a growth spurt? She's 17 now. I can't remember how old I was when I quit growing.

Her friend called me from work today and said, "Hello, Michelle, this is _____ qui qui...." I have no idea how to pronounce the first part and I'm totally guessing on the second. I said, "Huh? What? Could you repeat that? " and they repeated it again and maybe if I hadn't spent 3 years working in a school cafeteria I'd have had some idea what they were saying.

At one point, I heard, "Can I sing you a song?" and I said, "No. I'm busy. Bye." I assumed Bay had something to do with it. I was not wrong. When I picked her up, her friend wanted to sing me the song.

She told me that there were a couple of fights at her school today. One involved students and a boy was stabbed with a pencil. The other involved some men who just happened to be walking down the street. They fought in the parking lot. I'd really, really like to get her out of that school.

Just reread this. What a bunch of unrelated thoughts.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Back To School


I've been wanting to get back up the hill hiking again, but Max has been home sick for the past couple of days. I'm not sure if he's going back to school tomorrow, we'll see.

There's a spot of the trail were I'm suddenly reminded that there could be mountain lions around. Have I mentioned this before? I forget all about them, then I hit this spot, it's very close to the spot in this photo, and I get goosebumps. I look all around, see no scary big-cats, but I realize that I'm about half an hour from the safety of my car. I don't think anyone has seen a mountain lion up there for awhile, but I talked to a lady who saw a bobcat one time. She said, it walked across the path in front of her.

Tonight was back to school night for Sarah. Mom went with me. She's much better at paying attention than I am. Sarah's very excited about this school year and after listening to her teacher I can see why. That guy sounds like he's into everything. He's got a huge selection of classroom books, they've got a Nature Shelf, classroom pets, they run everyday and do PE daily, they do art all the time and he has a points system for rewards. He's got some great ideas.

Last year, when I still worked at the school, he really annoyed me on a couple of occasions, but his kids seemed to love him. I think I let my frustration with some of the other teachers color my opinion of him. I hate when I do that. I try to have an open mind. It's something that I pride myself on, but sometimes I'm stubborn and sometimes I'm wrong.

Oh, well. I'm a work in progress and I hope to get it right some day.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Candy-coated Dreams

I'm going to make this quick, because the day is almost over and I am trying to get back into writing here each day.

Max was home with me today. He's sick and he's got this odd red area on his leg. It's not raised, just red. He had a fever, but was fever free most of the day. I think he's on the mend. I hope he's on the mend.

I'm going to be doing a giveaway with some young girls - tweens - skincare products soon. I'll let you know when I run the giveaway. The products are Good For You Girl and Sarah uses them. She's loving the 6th grade, by the way. She's dressing girly and keeping her nails painted. Interesting. She starts volleyball in about a week. This will be new for us. I'm excited to see how it goes. I wonder if she will take to it like she did with the basketball.

Bay has two boys right now. She told me, "I'm not trying to have a boyfriend," which I found very interesting. I was never good at that, at the casual thing. I'm in awe of her ability to just enjoy herself and not stress the where-will-this-go, how-will-it-end-ness of it all. The two boys seem very different. Both are friends of her ex. That is interesting, as well. And cute, they are both cute.

Okay, I am off to climb into my bed now. I have a new quilt & sheets on there and they remind me of a candy bar - milk chocolate, caramel. Hopefully they will bring sweet dreams. I wish you the same. Here's a picture that doesn't show them really well, but you can get the general idea.


Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Ruby Tuesday - Sleepy Flowers

Happy Ruby Tuesday!

If you'd like to share your "ruby" photos, take a look at Teach's blog. I took a few shots of some of the flowers on my patio. Many of my plants are a bit tuckered out by hot Summer temperatures. Poor tired flowers.








I wish you a wonderful day!


Thursday, August 20, 2009

Lucky Duck

I had a super-lucky day today. It started with a work break due to a planned power outage. I took off for a hike and felt absolutely justified because I couldn't work anyway. Actually, I did a lot of thinking on my hike and I realized that I need to get out of my house more. Seeing more of the world will make me a better writer. There are only some many ideas I can come up with in my living room, at my couch/office.

Okay, on to my day......... I saw this tree and it reminded me of how I feel sometimes. It's all sharp and prickly and old. And it sort of looks like it's fighting with itself. Do you see that?


When I got back from my hike, I found a big box on the patio. I opened it up and it was from the Axe people. They sent me a fluffy black robe, some body wash, a cool basket that Kitty has been sleeping in, and this "mixed tape." Unfortunately, I have no way to listen to the tape. Dang. Going to work on that tomorrow.

The note from Axe mentioned flowers, but there were no flowers. Later, I got a knock on the door and the flowers arrived. A whole bunch of them; red, peach, yellow, and white. They came with a vase and they look lovely. I think that Axe may have a crush on me. ;D


This morning, I peeked online before the power outage and I had a message saying that yes, I was the Michelle who won the Asics hat from Fleet Feet Chico. They've been doing drawings and trying to add to their list of fans at Facebook. I love Fleet Feet, even before I won the hat. If you ever need running shoes, go see them. They will watch your gait and your stride and set you up with your perfect shoes. Mine, coincidently, are Asics. I've tried three different models and all three were and are wonderful. I hiked in an old pair today and ran in a new pair last night.

Do I sound like a Fleet Feet/Asics commercial? Probably. They are both great companies.


Here's a last view of the park. Looking to the South-ish. There's the ridge and below that is the creek. The golden part levels down and forms the north side of the valley. I love the park.






Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Wednesday and An Update

I'm craving one of these right now. A black tea/frozen peach smoothie type drink with mint. I have to take Bay to school in a few minutes, then I'm going by the Farmer's Market (smaller version on Wednesdays), so I might swing by and pick one up. I need to figure out how to reproduce them at home. Hhmm, it would be research, after all......... I haven't updated in awhile. I used to update everyday before blogging became my job. I will try to be more regular with the updates. My life is just not that exciting and for awhile it was very sad. I don't want to be a downer for anybody.

While I was gone, I had a birthday. Here's a picture of my lovely mom at the Sierra Nevada Taproom and Restaurant at my birthday lunch. We go there and sit on the patio every year. And every year we say, "This was the best one yet." This year was the best for beer - we tried a couple of new ones and I have new favorite - but the year before was the best for the food. That year we split a smoked salmon salad and a smoked salmon pasta dish. Oh my. Heaven.

The kids are all back in school. I wanted to go back, but instead I'm teaching myself. I want to get a degree or even some sort of Photography certificate (my jc offers one), but the classes are all full and there is the expense. I don't have to have it to do my work, so I'm teaching myself. I looked up the books the teachers are using and I ordered them used - total was around $25 for 3 books.
I got the first book and it's in pretty good shape. It's Art History. Have you ever noticed how Van Gogh's paintings look like they pulsate? Do you think that is how the world appeared to him? Even the air was active and moving?
Time to get busy. One last thing..... I'm doing a giveway at Splendicity fragrance. If you'd be interested in winning a Anne of Green Gables bag and fragrance, then please click here.

Saturday, August 8, 2009

Saturday In the Park.... Soon

I woke up to Kitty wanting a lot of my attention this morning. She kept cuddling with me, which is really very unlike her. I would pet her, then fall back to sleep. I got a "beep" good morning text from Mark and decided that it was time to be so lazy, it was time to get the day moving forward.

So, I washed my face, brushed my teeth, put on some shorts and drove over to the Farmer's Market. It was packed, because of the hour and the first time I went by the tamale stand, the line was 20 people deep. Seriously.

I got myself one of these teas today and I'm going to work on a recipe for Food and Nutrition. It's a smoothie with mint, black tea, peaches. Very good. I'm wondering about a simple syrup with mint and then freezing it, that way it's the thick part of the smoothie. And maybe freezing the peaches, as well. Make the tea very strong. I'll let you know when I've got it perfected.
I picked up some of these green beans to snack on, although I might make a cooked bean dish. Who knows. I've got all day to decide. Maybe something with bacon.......
Check out these nectarines. I love the ugly-beauty of the Farmer's Market produce. Sixteen years ago, that's where I saw my very first double and triple kiwis. They looked nuts. They tasted wonderful.


A few peaches. Not many. They were hard, but the farmer assured the crowd that they would be soft by tomorrow morning. We shall see. Peaches are really something I wish I could grow myself. They can be tricky, but a truly ripe, juicy peach - there is nothing better. Nothing.


Tomatoes! Okay, I didn't need to buy these, I have plenty of my own right now, but they are orange and I was in the mood for orange tomatoes.


I have to take off now. Mom is coming to sit with Buddy so that I can take the girls to the creek. We are celebrating the last few days of vacation. School starts on Wednesday. I love vacation, but this Summer has been a challenge. It will be nice to get back to some sort of schedule, although I do not look forward to waking to an alarm again.
Happy Saturday to you!