baby mode

I am there.  Big time.  

Dishwasher going (catching up from last nights festivities)....check

Washing machine going (you know, cause its never caught up).....check

Moving on to getting baby stuff ready....check!

I still have lots to organize (aka...get rid of) to make space for baby moving into my room.  Furniture to empty so my guys can move some out and others in.  So fun but so much work!

And that is basically my plans for this year.  To get the STUFF organized in my house and them move on to organizing the kids with a good routine and a healthy dose of self discipline thrown in to keep crazy at bay.

I normally have a giant resolution list but not this time.  I need to simplify. Simplify my thinking, simplify my home, and simplify the STUFF that tends to complicate all of these things in spite of the best intentions.  

Off to work!

thirty-five

Today starts a new year for me.

No better time to jump back in.

This year has been one of my funnest.  Went on an amazing trip....just me and my honey.

Watched my babies grow another year older, smarter, and more amazing.  Okay, throw in just a few screamin' she-touched-me fights for good measure.

And, I watched this baby grow bigger as the weeks past.  We are on the home stretch and full of excitement.  I have 3 little mama's who just can't wait for a baby to take care of!

Can't wait to see what 35 and 2011 have in store!

hu?

what did you say?  a month since my last post?  i don't know what you are talking about.

anywaaaaaayyyy......

scramble on the brain
don't be so lame
beautiful day
its the best way

my dear old friend Mr. Fields says it so very well...

It ain't what they call you, it's what you answer to.  ~W.C. Fields

: )

HAPPY DAY.

truth is.

the other day my husband told me i was old.

not the wrinkly kind of old (thankfully, i have good genetics in that area) but the old in the mind kinda old.  i didn't like it, but i know he is right.  i feel old.  i feel tired.  i used to have a spark.  i had big dreams and everyday i chased them.

truth is, i am NOT getting any younger.  why can't i find the fire?  my kids should keep me young right?

so, i asked him what exactly he thought would make me young.  he said i should dress like a slut.

he thinks he is funny.

truth is, i have felt it and known it for a long time before he said anything.  it feels like time is slipping and i am wasting.  i am wasting my time with worry and frustration.

my current state of mind is wrapped and tangled in the attempt to get the basics of running a home accomplished.  we mostly have clean clothes.  we mostly have a home-cooked meal on the table.  we mostly have a home that can be tidy'd up in a short time.

but that is so mediocre.  i hate it. i can't stand it.

truth is, i need fabulous.  the fabulous me is getting claustrophobic leg cramps because she has been crammed into a box for so long.  she wants out. sometimes i think i lost the key just because i can't find it.  

if one of the kids loses something, i just tell them to retrace their steps back to the last place they saw it.  it usually works.

truth is, it won't work this time.  you can't turn back time.  i have to find fabulous where i am right now.

true story

"Mommy, is that the park or an ice cream truck?"

gutsy girl

Sunday afternoon we got to experience Venice Beach.  It was totally alive, beautiful and interesting. 

 Lots of street shows.  Most were pretty corny but a few were great. 

Our favorite was the drum circle.  Just a huge group of drummers, actually it was any drum style as well as cow bells and giant maraca things,  banging it out as loud and passionately as possible. 

We snaked our way into the circle and  it was intense.  Pictures don't do justice to the way it FELT.  

Oh, and if you ever need any "medical" marijuana they can totally fix you up.  Just sayin.

Let me start this next story with a little history.  Ever since I was somewhere around 16ish I have wanted to get my nose pierced.  But, I am a humongous chicken when it comes to pain.  Never mind that I have had 4 babies, 3 completely natural and 9 lbs plus.  (Yes, that is my badge of courage and I will lay that card on the table any time I get ready.)  Never mind any of that, because the mere IDEA of a needle coming close to me makes me queasy.  Flash forward to the 34 year old version of Rachel who knows it is way past time to do the things I have always wanted to do.  Oh, what IS a girl to do in such a quandary.  Rely on the determination of friends and husbands, that's what.  I am a chicken remember?

So, I am there, on Venice Beach in a tattoo parlor telling myself "just don't look, just don't look".  That tattoo stuff was way to much for me.  So, the guy takes me to the back and I start wondering if this was a foolish little girl's good idea and a mature woman's bad idea.  

My friend Tal kept telling me that when she did hers years ago it was nothing.  Hurt for like 2 seconds and it was over.  The thing is, I kept thinking of when I got my ears pierced at 10 years old.  I remember it vividly.  Enough said.  

The piercing guy was great.  He kept reminding me to breath in, and breath out.  I needed that, and I was very grateful.

Okay, this next picture took me a while to look at.  Yes, that is a GIANT needle.  WHA??  I thought he was going to use a gun!  This is NOT 1962!  

So, after this picture, he put the little stud in and Rachel proceeded to turn the exact shade of the wall behind her.  Yes, everyone was rushing to get her cool rags, smelling salts, cold drinks.  

Yes, I am cool.

I recovered, and Tal, through her laughter, confessed that actually, when she had hers done she almost passed out.  sheeeesh!

His reaction was basically "It's about time!"  He likes it when I am brave.  And he loves it when I step out of my comfort zone.  I think he knows that is where the fun in life is waiting for me.

So, we left the beach and headed to Hollywood.  It was Oscar night after all!  Why not go to Hollywood!  

I have never been to D.C. or anywhere at the same time as the President, but I cannot imaging the security being any more intense that it was on Oscar night around the Chinese Theater.  Cars with passes were getting violated by swarms of security checking ever nook and cranny.  This is as close as we could get.

It was still fun and really interesting to see people gather around store windows to watch TVs they couldn't hear to just watch the ceremony.  

We were packing tons of fun into every minute but tomorrow we get started on Route 66.  An amazing experience.  I can't wait to share!

Saturday in L.A.

We did eventually, in the wee hours of the night/morning make it back to our beautiful hotel.  Our friends were married here and they were so gracious to want to share this with us.  It was amazing and VERY California.  It was beautiful in March during a very cold snap.  I can only imagine this place in the spring and summer!

We met back up with our friends and I got to spend some time with Tal, Guy's wife.  She is a successful phychologist and I confess that, before meeting her, I feared being "analyzed".  

That made me nervous.  Why, you ask?  I don't want to talk about why.

Aaaaaanyway, that was SO not the case and we became instant friends and I learned so much from her. She must have sensed that I needed to really make the most of this time away from the daily grind and Saturday afternoon we went for foot massages.  Have you ever seen these places?  It says reflexology foot massage but it was literally head to toe!  We have nothing like that around here and it was so simple but amazing.  You MUST go if you get the chance.

I learned something about myself that day.  I tend to try to take small snippets of time in the day to be "my time".  I cheat my family and myself by doing that.  After doing something really nurturing for myself I realized that if I just give my family 100% of myself when I am with them and then take the time out to do something really special for myself once in a while, we would both be better off for it.

Stay tuned...on Sunday I do something I have wanted to do since I was about 16 but, in true Rachel fashion, almost chickened out.  You'll never guess!