Home Alone or Not

Ok, I thought I was going to get a couple days alone. Just me, Puck and the computer. I was looking forward to catching up on this blog and reading those of my freinds, because since Steve is home he is training and is on the computer a lot. It is good that he is training so he can get a consulting job, but it has changed my routine.

Well, Steve left pulling the trailer to go camp with his dad for a couple days. He was gone about an hour and a half. He called to let me know something was seriously wrong with the Yeti, but he was going to put oil in it to see what that would do and he would get back to me. He did and we had to get it, and the trailer, towed to the dealer in Sumner. We will find out tomorrow what the diagnostic tests tell us.


Here us a picture of the Yeti on a flatbed truck which was pulling the trailer.

Lessons learned: How to ask for help? Patience? We really aren't in control of anything? Gratitude that such a thing can happen at a not so bad time.

Oh, and instead of getting a couple of days to myself Steve is here and his dad just came up here instead of camping. So I get the two of them together. What can I learn from this?

Be Free,
Lorri

Happines is a Conscious Choice

Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response.
-Mildred Barthel


This speaks volumes to me. Life at our house has gone through many changes in the last month. Steve being laid off brought up an amazing set of questions. He has the opportunity to really look at what he wants to do going forward. With my trust in God and the universe, I am sure he will get what he asks for. It is all about the wording and the energy.

Robin is settling in at Western. He came home two weekends ago for a play his friend was in. It was great to see him and it gave him the opportunity to have his list of all the things he didn’t know he would need taken care of. We power shopped. It was pretty amazing and very fruitful for him. He is coming home this weekend for Homecoming. I imagine that his trips home will become further apart as he finds more things to keep him busy in Bellingham and makes even more friends than he already has. From what he has told me, he is keeping up with his classes and has called his sister a number of times for help with his math homework.

Sydnee seems to be settling in also for her senior year of college. She is working at a few different jobs and seems to be keeping her schedule under control. She also has a social life that is tied to her church. I hope that she can expand the social part while keeping her beliefs intact, it can be quite the balancing act. She has sent her application to UPS for the Masters in the Art of Teaching, and has a few pieces to follow up on including three tests. I know she will do grand and will be receiving her Master in 2009. YEAH Sydnee!!

I am taking this time to look at my own opportunities and choices.

Be Free,
Lorri

Transitions

If you let go a little, you will have a little peace. If you let go a lot, you will have even more peace. So wherever you are attached, let go of that and come back to the center. Learn to see all movement of life with balance and openness.

ACHAAN CHAH


Ok, I haven’t felt well since I got home from Boston. We all seem to have gotten some sort of stomach bug, but we will be fine.

But, what I have noticed since we moved Robin to Bellingham is that with the house quiet, I am fealing mellower. I know that some of this is due to the energy of our house. It is a great house and the energy has always been loving and comforting, but now it is something else too. I guess maybe it is serenity, a feeling that all is good in this space. I think the dog even feels it, he has been sleeping really well at night, and so have I.

It is a shift to think that if something needs to be cleaned or picked up, it is because Steve or I got it out or made the mess. It is just different.

I think that Steve got laid off for a couple different reasons that have nothing to do with his companies budget changes. I think he needed a change and he wasn’t moving fast enough, so God/the universe gave him a little push. I also think that I needed him home to help with this transition. And he has helped. I figure about the time I get used to having him home, he will get a new job.

My mom told me once that she married my dad “for better or worse, but not for lunch”. I totally understand what she meant, but since Steve takes on the chore of cleaning up whatever mess I make when I cook, I don’t mind cooking more in a day. It is really good for us to eat at home and eat the good organic produce we get from Terry’s Berries in our farm share. My new favorite way to cook a lot of veggies is to roast them. Simple and so flavorful.

I start new Pilates classes for Pierce College this week. My Tuesday morning class has six participants and it is so exciting to be able to really teach the proper technique to them all. We stop and feel what each move is and why we want to do it. I make sure they are doing it properly and even though we didn’t make it too far though the list of exercises, they could all feel what they were supposed to be feeling and felt as though they had worked. This is the way teaching this should feel. It is too bad that the YMCA has the open door policy on their Pilates classes and I have so many different levels in each class. I remember Anne would take people upstairs to give them an individual help session with some of the moves. I never did that, but I wish I had been asked. I may have to figure out how to include that for the class participants.

I also need to do some thinking and experimenting with the collection of exercises that I do in the class. I tend to go much slower than Anne did, but I like the mind/body connection that that affords. But I feel I need to have more variety, so I guess I will be working for my money.

Life is great.

Be Free,
Lorri

He's Grown Up

Ok, we got him to Bellingham and into his dorm. I wanted to stay until he was ready for me to go. I was really good about asking him what he wanted me to do and not just doing what I thought needed to be done. He has discovered a few things he forgot already.


The first, as he was trying to get comfortable in the yeti to take a nap, her realized that he forgot his pillow. We discussed the merits of buying a new one vs. a folded sweatshirt. He didn't want to buy a new one. When his stuff was in the room, he realized he forgot the lock for his laptop. Then he couldn't find the keys to his bike lock. And the remote to his stereo. Apparently you can't set it to the sleep mode, and a few other features, with out the remote. He received a message from a friend who is moving up to Western on Sunday and he called her to ask if she would mind bringing the few items he forgot, she said yes and she just stopped by the house to pick them up. I feel relieved.


What I am feeling guilty about is he has a cold. Now, I know I didn't give it to him and there is really nothing that I can do, but my baby can't breathe through his nose. He used the nasal spray in the car on the way and he emailed me last night, around midnight, that he couldn't find it. His roommate, Lucas pictured on the right with Robin, is going to go buy him some today. The second save of the day.

The house is very quiet. Steve has been home, and I have been trying to find him projects to do. Well, he now gets to clean and detail Robin's car so we can sell it. Do you know anyone who is interested in a '98 Ford Contour?

Be Free,
Lorri

The Big Day Friday

Steve and I will be driving to Bellingham this Friday to take Robin to college. It hits me every once in a while that he will be there and not here. Although I don't see him very much when he is here.

I am feeling very worn out after the trip so I am wondering if I am a little more sensitive to change and "stuff" than I would normally be. Probably not, but it is a valid excuse for being what feels crazy to me.

Boston was fabulous!

We flew US Air into Philly and found out our flight to Boston was canceled. They bumped us to a flight 30 minutes later. No problem, our luggage will get on that flight, right? They said yes. Wrong. It didn’t come in on that flight and the next two flights were canceled. I called at 1:30 in the morning to see if it had come in on the last flight and was told that it didn’t and that I should call in the morning. I called and they told me it had arrived and would be delivered. I, of course, asked when. They said by 10:30. There was a message on the hotel phone that I hadn’t seen and when I called they told me our luggage was in the lobby. They brought it up after I asked them to. Yeah, we were set to vacation.

We took a trolley tour that was ok, but not great. We got to see all of the sights, but they wanted everyone to be quiet so you could hear about the history. It was kinda strange to be told to be quiet, but we also did want to hear the history. The problem was we thought the first driver wasn’t too funny but when we got back on after checking our Fenway Park, the driver was worse. But we had a good idea of where everything was and what we wanted to go back to see.

Mom and I wanted to shop. We wanted to go to Filene’s Basement, Macy’s, and DSW (a huge shoe store). We made it to DSW the first day and I got a pair of cute shoes, but then went back to the hotel to get ready to have dinner. We found out later in the week that Filene’s was closed and wouldn’t open for a couple of years (boohoo) and we did get to Macy’s, but we weren’t too impressed. We did end up getting Mom a pair of flip flops at Payless Shoe Source.

On Thursday we walked part of the Freedom Trail. Boston proper is not very big and we stayed in the Financial District which was very central. It was a 10-15 minute walk to the North End, aka Little Italy to those not from Boston, and a 10-15 minute walk to Beacon Hill. We saw graveyards, Paul Revere’s house, the famous “one if by land, two if by sea” church steeple, the Boston Commons and the Public Gardens. It was a very relaxed vacation and it was great to spend the time with my mom and my sister.

We listened in at one graveyard to a tour leader talk about Sam Adams. She told us to look at the picture of Sam on the beer label. It isn’t him. I guess he was “butt ugly” (her words, not mine) and that the picture is actually Paul Revere. Compare these photos.



Paul Revere by Copley


















Samuel Adams




We got to see the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, had lunch at the Museum of Fine Arts, and went to Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody. We took a very short harbor tour and saw the USS Constitution and the beautiful buildings of Boston from the harbor.

I am glad to be home and now I get to help Robin finish getting ready to move to Bellingham. We take him this Friday. I’ll let you know how I hold up.

Be Free,
Lorri

The Dog Days of Summer

We camped last weekend at Mayfield Lake. We were with a group of dogs who were kind enough to bring all of their owners. The dogs run and play. We had a couple puppies there and all sizes. Here are a few pictures.

This is Puck showing Nico who is boss.

Here are Biggles and Nico.

Sandy, Nico and Biggles.

Puck and Sophie. There were more dogs there, but these were the ones who we played with.




This was the most challenging cork screw that I have ever encountered. Kudos to Ron and Dave for getting the bottle open, notice I didn’t say figuring it out. We definitely achieved corkage. We also ate really well. We had biscuits and gravy with a hashbrown casserole, fajitas & margaritas, a sausage hash with eggs, tri-tip roast with coleslaw and corn on the cob and then breakfast sandwiches on Monday. We ate well and it was all greatly appreciated. It is really a neat system with this group. Everyone is in charge of a meal, you choose what you want to make and then you are done cooking for the rest of the weekend. It is so much fun and the variety is fantastic.

I know Steve and I had a great time and look forward to the next time.