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Heading in a new direction

Friday, June 25th, 2010

I have not written a word on this blog in over two months. I have not missed it at all. Reason being, I have been busy. Busy with kids, busy with visiting family, busy with the house, busy with trying to get me back.

I am running a half marathon next weekend and training with a group to run a marathon at the end of the year.

I love writing and had hoped that writing a blog would be good for me but I changed my way of writing along the way. I wanted to fit in I guess but it wasn’t me.

I love that a lot of you out there are happy with the way your blog is heading. Whenever I looked back at my posts I wasn’t entirely satisfied that I wrote exactly wanted I had wanted to say. I held back so it seemed watered down to me.

Part of the reason why I wasn’t happy with my blog was in part to do with the readership. It’s so hard getting noticed. I felt like I was writing and it wasn’t reaching anyone. What was the point then?

I got an email today which was about the number of mom blogs who were writing a year ago but aren’t writing anymore. The blogs just ended. I am one of those. It’s sad. I wrote for a year exactly.

The last few months I have been thinking of turning this blog into something else. I’m not sure yet though. It might be more about me venting, writing more openly, saying what’s really going on with me. It will definitely be taking a different direction.

I think I am at a crossroads and I just need to decided which road to take.

Thanks to the few people who did drop by from time to time.

Don’t be surprised if you come back in the future and it looks and sounds a little different.

Peace

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Done and dusting

Monday, April 12th, 2010

My mum is visiting from the UK next week. I am so excited. I have been cleaning like mad.

Over the weekend I washed the windows which were due for a spring clean anyway. We have a lot of windows in this house. Leo my 3.5 year old was really into helping until a dead bug took him by surprise and he announced ‘I’m done.’ With his departure this would speed up my finishing time of getting the windows washed so I was secretly pleased.

Leo decided to help daddy instead who was washing his car.

In the time it took me to wash the windows inside and out and then shine them up nicely, Adam managed to wash one car and those teeny tiny windows of the car. It took me just over two hours and was taking Adam longer than that. Big, big sigh.

Yesterday, I went into the guest room and began bringing that room back to life. It was last occupied by my mum in November. I also cleaned the guest bathroom and did some vacuuming down the stairs and along the hallway.

I  then got dinner prepared and the kids bathed.  It was a busy day.

I was tired the whole time I was doing this. I actually got up to run on Sunday but had slept badly. I made it out of the house and was saying to myself that  didn’t feel like running. I walked and then started running but I wasn’t into it at all. I decided to do a Leo and give up on this one telling myself I was done. I ran home after running less than two miles.

I think I kept going on Sunday because I knew Monday was coming. Monday is the day both kids are at school all day. I could have left the cleaning for Monday but knew I mostly wanted to relax on the day.

I am so glad I did.  Off to relax now.

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Rainy days

Tuesday, April 6th, 2010

I’m a Londoner, born and raised in the UK.  I live in Portland Oregon and right now it’s raining. It’s been raining for the last 7 days though it feels like an eternity right now.  I think it rains more in Portland than it does in London.

Yesterday, it rained. Surprise, surprise. It was windy and stormy but it could not have been more perfect for me because on Monday’s from now on I have the entire day to myself, until 5 pm anyway when I have to pick up the kids from daycare.

The day started perfectly with me working out. I then did some cleaning and sorting out of kids clothes for Goodwill or for keeping and packing away. They are growing so fast. I can’t believe they are no longer babies. I have a 3.5 year old and a fast approaching nearly 2 year old. Anyway, I then had lunch and thought I would watch an episode of Madmen that I am watching courtesy of Netflix. I am loving watching it commercial free on DVD.

I did some reading after that and thought I would get the dinner prepared. So far so good. All was running smoothly until 3:45 when I was stirring the onions and added mushrooms and boiling the sweet potatoes. The electricity went off. It wasn’t just our house but the whole street and surrounding area.

The wailing winds, swaying tree branches and falling pine cones hitting the roof must have cut the power out.  It was so stormy.

An hour later still no power. No Oprah Winfrey show either as it goes out here at 4 PM. I was really looking forward to it. Damn.

I called Adam but only got his voice mail. I had to go and get the kids from daycare and went to press the garage door open and realized the door wouldn’t open because that too is powered by electricity. Great. I tried to get Adam yet again. No luck. I must have called 6 or 7 times in all. It was getting late and the hope of getting Adam to pick up the kids was fading fast. I would have to get the stroller and brace the wind and rain by walking. This is no problem for me but it was cold. I got hats and gloves for the kids and got out of the house.

Do you know that Adam eventually called me the minute I reached the doors of the kid’s daycare. Thank goodness we live relatively near the school. On my own, I can walk it briskly in 10 minutes.

The rain, thankfully only picked up when we were minutes from reaching home but the kid’s looked so cold. Their poor noses and cheeks were red. My hands were freezing.

Normally I have the kids home by 5.15 today we got home around 6.15. Adam got home about 6.25.

I hadn’t run but just worked out on our Boflex gym, this morning, but after lifting the stroller and carrying it to the daycare and then pushing the stroller up and down hills to get home, I must have burned twice as many calories than the workout I did that earlier.

It’s supposed to be dry tomorrow followed  by more rain of course. It’s Portland for goodness sake!

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Go get it, you can do it

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

After cleaning the crayons whirls and squirls from the TV screen and rescuing a fallen toddler from her crib – she was laid splayed out on her back waiting for me to pick her up, poor thing, tears and screams a plenty, the morning turned into the afternoon and then the evening.

The weather went from very wet to dry and then wet again with the wind thrown in there. I had planned to run this morning but the rain and rain was relentless so I turned off my alarm clock and went back to sleep.

Saturday morning I will run even if it is pouring with more rain and the wind is accompany it.

I just signed up for  a half marathon in July and need to start training now. No more excuses.  I am actually excited to run again. To push myself and put myself out of my comfort zone. You all should try it. It’s good for you. You’d be surprised what you can actually accomplish when confronted full on with your fears or what you have told yourself that you cannot possibly do.  I am not just speaking about running here. Any thing that you feel you want and cannot have because it feels too monumental once taken and looked at and broken down into stages is accomplishable. You just have to believe in yourself and your ability. It’s what I did and hey presto with training and actually breaking through the fear I did it. I ran my first marathon in 2005 and then again in 2009 and intend to do it again this year. I ran my first half marathon last year and will run it again this Summer. I am excited. I am not nervous. Not anymore anyway because I have done it already. Who knew I would have the confidence to ever write those words down.

Happy you to going for  that  thing  that you have feared in the past.

Go get it.

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Car washing fun

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

Whilst driving last week, Leo happened to see someone washing their car. This practice looked strange to Leo. Why? Because as far as Leo is concerned all cars are washed in a car wash. Mmm. This bothered me. Before moving to the USA, before having kids, when it was just me and my car I always washed my car by hand. Adam, my husband has a car and I have a car. When my car is dirty Adam takes it to the car wash. In the four years we have been married I have never seen Adam wash his car by hand  though he claimed he always used to do so. Mmm. I felt a teaching moment brewing up in me.

Day: Saturday.  Time: 1 pm

Adam said he had some car wash in the garage and this would prove that he used to wash his car himself. So once Roma was napping, I informed Leo that he would be helping me to wash the car. Leo was so excited. Adam, Leo and myself went down to the garage. I reversed the car and positioned it near the pipe where the hose would be attached, for the great car wash. Leo was at the ready with sponge in hand. We just needed Adam to produce the car wash shampoo. We waited. We waited some more. Nothing happened. This did not come as a huge surprise to me. Adam could not find this wash.

I jumped in my already reversed car and went up to the local gas station to buy some. They had everything else but car wash. I then drove to the nearest store but they didn’t have any either. I ended going all the way to my grocery store, Fred Meyer, and finding countless brands of car wash there. ¬†I made my selection and hurried home.

Adam was waiting. I had thought for a moment that maybe he might be stood waiting with a I told you I had some car wash smile on his face with and the bottle of car wash in his hand but he wasn’t. I think he actually felt bad that I had been gone so long.

Leo, tired of waiting, had gone off to play with a neighbor. ¬†A few minute later Leo happily joined Adam and I ( yep, Adam couldn’t resist getting involved or was it guilt ? ) to hose down the dirty car with a good rinse of water, sponge the soapy ¬†wash all over the car, give it another hose down and then a wax. ¬†The car looked wonderful. Leo truly had a ball. He really enjoyed cleaning the car. ¬†Imagine that. ¬† Adam would never ¬†have thought of showing Leo that cars can be washed by hand. It took the genius of mummy to do this. Ha. I feel pretty good about that.

A great teaching moment which got the kid outdoors for an activity which provided exercise and fun at the same time .

Leo is already looking forward to washing the car again.

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Sausages

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

At Costco this morning, we bought some more Aidells chicken and apple sausages. We get them a lot. They are delicious ¬†and ¬†I thought I might try the Gruyere cheese and roasted garlic sausages too by Aidells. ¬†I had a sample taste even though I had already picked up the double package. ¬†They are very tasty. I looked at the sausages being offered and noticed that the look of the sausage wasn’t as cooked or burnt looking as the way I cooked them. Perhaps I was cooking them for ¬†too long.

When we got home and as we normally do after a Costco shopping trip, Adam  took the sausages out of their wrapping and packed 4 sausages each into a zip lock bag for the freezer. This is great but I have realized that I never see the original packaging and how Aidells suggests that the sausages should be cooked.

Oh dear.  Those poor sausages. I have been beating them up in the oven for way too long. I have been cooking them for nearly 45 minutes until the skin is almost burnt. I have been treating the already cooked sausages as if they were regular sausages fried on the stove in a frying pan.  It turns out that these sausages only need 8 Р10 minutes max on the stove or baked in the oven. I feel terrible about my past treatment of the Aidells sausage and did them justice this time by cooking them for 10 minutes only.

When I served dinner they looked almost anaemic though compared to how we are used to eating them but at least they were easier to cut into. It was always such an effort!

Anyhow, here is the retrieved wrapping that I managed to dig up from the trash can.

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Getting out the house

Friday, March 12th, 2010

Last month Adam and I got out of the house. We booked the babysitter on a Friday night and headed to the restaurant and then to a bar for drinks and dancing.

We are doing it again tonight.

We are trying, at least once a month, to get out of the house and spend a few hours talking to each other without being interrupted by small people screaming and pulling at you for your attention.

As soon as we get into the car, leaving the babysitter alone with two sleeping children ,we are free for at least 4 glorious hours of grown up people noise. We hear dance music, people talking, laughing, glasses and cutlery clinking, grown ups having a great time. There isn’t one single child around. It is heavenly.

This morning when I woke up I thought to myself how wonderful it would be to just stay in bed and not have to get up. I haven’t had that luxury in over 3 years. I truly miss having a lie in. I said this to Adam too and said that one day he should take a day off work, drop the kids to daycare, get Roma in daycare for a full day and not the half days she normally does and he should come back home. I will already be tucked up in bed and he should meet me right there in that very bed. We won’t do anything all day except lie in bed and giggle, nod off to sleep, wake up, get lunch and get back into bed or be completely wild and have lunch in bed too. This is a dream of mine. I can but dream.

So apart from really looking forward to going out tonight and getting out of the house I would like to stay in bed all day and rest. The funny thing is we’ll go out tonight and come home in the very early hours and have to get up very early the next day because the kids will wake up around 7 am full of energy after having a wonderful night’s sleep.

That will teach us for going out and having a good time without them.

Oh well, at least we got out of the house.

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Remembering fun times

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

The weekend. So happy it is here. ¬†I haven’t written in about a week because ¬†I haven’t felt I had anything worthwhile to say.

I have been catching up with an old friend of mine that I recently talked to. She lives in the UK, London, where I am originally from.

We first spoke in October of last year. It had been twenty years since we last spoke. Twenty whole years have gone by. We talked about our vacation times in the Caribbean when we where young, free and single girls. Yippee!!

She recently went back to Antigua and saw a few of the guys we used to hang out with. Some are doing well and others not so well. It’s so fun reminiscing. We really had a ball of a time before settling down and having kids.

She now has a 10 year old son and me a 3 year old son and 19 month year old daughter.

Apart from catching up with old friends my newer ones, one in particular, is moving back to the East Coast of the US from Portland, Oregon to New York. Having worked here he is going back home to be closer to his son and extended family. I will miss him terribly.

When I first moved to Oregon from London a group of New Yorker’s, who worked with my husband , had moved to Oregon at the same time. He was one of those people. That was 4 years ago. ¬†A big group of us used to go out and party. This was before the kids came when we used to have a nap before going out at 11 pm and coming home at 4am.

A picture was taken after a boozy, great night out at a club we used to go to almost every Friday night. For the first time, about 3 months ago, I saw a photograph perfectly depicting these times. The ¬†picture included about 15 members of our group of party people. Looking at this picture was amazing because every single member of those people who started out a free and single lovelies are either married, engaged, with child, about to have child, have children or completely left the Oregon altogether. It blows my mind. We all looked so damn happy. It’s ¬†great picture. It was a great time.

After talking with my friend in the UK it brought back so many great memories. I am so happy to have experienced them.

Here’s hoping for future great times and memories.

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Good weekend

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

The weekend started with Adam and I hauling more logs from the back of the house to the front. We have lots of wood for people from the trees that came down a couple of weeks ago.

The weather was gorgeous, mild at 58 degrees and sunny.

We decided that we would only spend about an hour and half bringing the logs around because we wanted to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

At eleven, we took the kids to the park and then came back and had lunch.

During the afternoon we went to our local park and had fun kicking a soccer ball around. I was actually surprised at how good Leo was with the ball.  He kicked and kicked and ran and ran. It was non stop and he laughed and giggled the whole time.

On Sunday we spent most of the day outdoors too.

It was another lovely day.

It started with Leo and I going over to a neighbors to see if the girls wanted to play soccer with us. We played for about an hour and then came home for lunch.

After lunch Roma went to sleep. Leo, Adam and I went outdoors and saw our neighbors outside too. Leo went off and played with five year old Gina while we stood talking with her mom and dad. We were then joined by another neighbor whose daughter was napping but whose son was strapped to dad in the baby carrier. We talked and laughed about our yards mostly and the amount of work that needed doing. We were then joined by some more neighbors who had been gardening and decided to join in the chat. We stood chatting for about twenty minutes, until the wife of baby carrying dad, joined us. We had the whole street out. It was so fun. Adam got some beers another neighbor got some chocolate minty cookies and we continued to laugh and chat some more.

We had come out at 1.30 PM ¬†and it was nearly 4.00 PM when we finally parted and went indoors. In between we’d got babies and toddlers up from naps to join in the fun.

To top the day off Adam cooked dinner. He did a lovely steak and mash with asparagus tips dinner for us. It was delicious.

Adam and I played tennis on the WII. I finally beat him three games to two. I have never beat him. It was great.

We had such a fun weekend.

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Let’s go for a walk today

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

It’s been a long weekend.

Leo nor Roma attend daycare on a Friday. Then came the weekend which was followed today with President’s Day. ¬†Adam went to work ¬†which left me with 4 whole days of the kids. I’m not complaining but I am looking forward to having a few hours to myself today.

It has been a busy weekend with Adam and I working on the yard and then placing an ad in Craigslist for free firewood.  So far we have had over 30 people contact us.  We let a foster parent come first. She along with one of the kids she fosters and a work colleague came early on Sunday morning and loaded up the back of the car with as much as they could fit in it.

Around lunchtime a couple came by. The wife had contacted us saying her husband had been out of work for awhile and they needed the firewood for  heating. They came with a big truck and loaded up that vehicle with so much wood. Adam and I helped to pack the logs in. They left with huge smiles on their faces. They were so appreciative.

We have plenty of wood and plenty more of people to come.

Today, I didn’t want to arrange anyone coming by. I wanted to spend some time outdoors with the kids instead of waiting for people to arrive.

This morning, as soon as Adam left, I decided that we should go for a walk. I didn’t want to go to the park because it rained last night so the grass would be quite muddy.

Leo wanted to wear his firemen boots, as he calls them.

We headed down the hill in the opposite direction of the park when Leo asked where are we going. I told him for walk. Leo said he wanted to go to the park. I told him the slides and swings would be wet. He said he still wanted to go. We turned and came back up the hill and into the park.

I didn’t bring the stroller because Roma likes to walk outdoors now she can walk but not today. ¬†I ended up carrying her for more than an hour because ¬†she didn’t feel like walking at all. Leo didn’t mind going down the wet slides or sitting on the swings and playing with the two other boys he met there but Roma was having none of it.

We came home and I hosed down my muddy boots and Leo’s firemen boots. Roma’s shoes did not need cleaning. Not even a splash of mud touched her shoes. Lucky for her but unlucky for my lovely boots. Oh well.

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