365 Project - Day TWENTY NINE

This morning, one of the PTA moms who was supposed to help the PE teacher at Jack's school with the Jump Rope for Heart jump-a-thon today, came down with a crazy cold. She sounded awful when I talked to her on the phone. I told her she had the swine flu. She laughed and asked if I would fill in for her today. I told her I would and told her to feel better soon. She squeaked out a few words which I recognized as, "I can come help you for a little while...". I told her to stay the hell away from me because I didn't want to get sick too.

Anyway, I was the chief banana cutter. The kids needed a snack while they jump-roped and I was the one to dole it out. The PE teacher was able to get two cases of bananas and 4 cases of water donated by our local Albertson's (thank you Alby's!). I cut the ass and top off each banana, cut it in thirds and then scored the peel down one side for easy peeling. The kids said they were the best bananas in the world...I told them all I grew them myself.

The stars of the show? The banana people that came from Jamba Juice to support the event. There were two employees that came dressed as bananas and they participated with the kids and were jump-roping in their banana costumes. It was quite comical and they were good sports.

My guess is there was a lot of plugged-up kids tonight because there was some serious banana buffet going on...

365 Project - Day TWENTY EIGHT

So, my dad and I have been anticipating the arrival of Sonic for a long time now. While my dad's job takes him all around this country and he has plenty of Sonics to choose from on his travels, I have to wait for the occasional trip to Texas. There are Sonic Drive-Ins all over the southern states. They have planned a clever marketing campaign and have blasted our Washington airwaves with commercials for yummy items. It left those who don't know thinking, "Where the heck is Sonic?" For many years I have been patiently waiting for one to go up in Washington. About 5 years ago, my dad contemplated opening his own Sonic Drive-In. The franchise fee and amount of money you needed in liquid assets was just the right thing to keep that dream from happening.

So, we're blessed with a Sonic now. Since the restaurant only opened on Monday, there's lots of people trying to get in to eat there. Most Sonic restaurants only feature the car stall drive-up, but this new Sonic has a drive-up, drive-thru and walk-up. The lines for ALL of them were long. Long enough to require a gravel staging area and a post-it note with a number on it. Quite a production.

The food was just as I remember, tasty and worth the wait and experience with my dad. The picture? Taken out of the sunroof of my mom's Subaru with my cell phone.

365 Project - Day TWENTY SEVEN

Today was an emotional day. I went with Kelby, my mom and dad and Brian's family to a ceremony honoring those who have died while on the job in 2008. While I don't see 81 names on this pamphlet, the people speaking from the Department of Labor and Industries stated there were 81 workplace deaths this year. Several mucky mucks spoke and offered condolences and assured us they are striving every day to make that number ZERO. I feel they have come a long way with safe labor practices and laws and I hope they continue to improve things so families don't have to suffer over the death of someone they loved. One of the highlights of the event was a presentation by the governor of our state, Christine Gregoire. Since the building we were in was not a large auditorium by any means, the governor was literally 15 feet away from me. It was a terrible event to see the governor in person at, but nonetheless, I can say we were in the same room.

At the same time, Brian will never be a statistic to us. There on the big screen was a slide show with pictures of some of the people listed. It took my breath away to see Brian's bright, blue eyes and signature grin up on that screen every time the slide show cycled back to him. I know he's all around us and seeing his daughter reminds me of him each and every time I see her.

Love you Brian.

After that, Mazie had her first t-ball game tonight. Her team is called the Muckdogs, which I hear is a farm team for a MLB team. Ironically, when Jack was playing t-ball, he was a Muckdog as well. It was hard to decide which picture to post from today for Mazie. She was cute as hell out there among all the other ball herders. When she played the pitcher position, she was on it - grabbing grounders and throwing them to the appropriate basemen. While she is not an accurate thrower, she felt she did her job by getting it into the general area of the appropriate base. Doing this quickly allowed her to go back to her 'in-between batters' duty, which was cleaning off the rubber bases, hopping in circles, picking clover flowers and finding the occasional worm. The batting tips I provided her were wrong (according to her), but she should improve by the end of the season (fingers crossed).


Serious in the huddle


Lone pitcher...

365 Project - Day TWENTY SIX

What did I do today? Well, I went and took a placement test to see where I rate for entrance to TCC (Tacoma Community College). I would like to pursue their radiology program and I'm in the very beginning phases of getting to that point.

I was very nervous about this test. Why? Well, because they call it a test. If they would have called it an intelligence survey, or a 'how much you retained in high school' survey, maybe I wouldn't have been thrown off. It's appropriately named, AccuPlacer Test. So they can place you in the accurate classes to help you succeed.

Just as I expected, I did relatively well on the English and Reading Comprehension phases of the test. Not too shabby for 18 years out of school.

What happened after that though...well, I bombed the math part. Hmm, I guess I can't say bombed. I did very poorly though. I at least had a score, which meant I must have got some answers correct. As you can see on the document, I scored a 32. This was out of a possible 120. The man proctoring the test tells me, "It's really not a bad score." WHAT? They have me slated for Math 85, which my sister tells me doesn't even count towards college credits.

*sigh* The proctor gave me some websites to refer to and told me to come back after 48 hours to take the math portion over again. Maybe I will. My brain goes into lockdown when my eyes view anything that has a combination of x's, y's and parentheses...

365 Project - Day TWENTY FIVE

She came! The Tooth Fairy made good on her promise. She left $5 for Mazie's first tooth, just like she did for Jack's first tooth. Last night, we hurriedly made Mazie this TF pillow, which had a pocket that was just the right size for a folded piece of 'paper money'.

Whew!

And now for your viewing pleasure, an interpretive dance by Mazie to the song, "Conquest" by the White Stripes.

365 Project - Day TWENTY FOUR

Today was tooth-losin' day. Mazie's first tooth!

Well, not technically. A couple of months ago, the dentist pulled one of Mazie's molars because it was pretty decayed. It couldn't be filled or crowned. So, the Tooth Fairy left Mazie a pack of flossers and told her to take better care of her teeth. Mazie used the entire pack of 30 flossers in one day. In her teeniest, tiniest cursive writing, the Tooth Fairy also promised money on the first tooth she lost naturally.

Fast forward to yesterday. We had a Mt. View Co-op Preschool Alumni and current student family fun night that we were invited to. Before we left, Mazie's tooth was barely hanging on. We tried to convince her to pull it before we left, but she was adamant that we weren't doing that.



Once we arrived at the event, she got herself some cookie dough ice cream that was generously donated by Ben and Jerry's. Not two bites later, she's running up to me with something in her hand and a mouth full of blood. She's finally lost her tooth!



I'll continue the post tomorrow when and if the Tooth Fairy comes!

365 Project - Day TWENTY THREE

Today was a significant, nerve-wracking day.

It started out ok. Got the kids off to school today without a hitch. As usual we were running behind. Out of habit, Jack kissed me before he got out of the car and said, "Goodnight Mom, love you..." like we say every night. We three had a good laugh and Jack corrected himself before he went in.

Went home after I dropped off Mazie and got ready to start my day. I got some emails done, checked the bank account and went on with getting dressed.

Left the house and went to Joe's Outdoors, which is going out of business. They boast 20-40% off the entire store! I went in there hoping for some bargains. I was able to eke out a bargain and got a pair of shoes for $15 after the clerk couldn't find a barcode for them. Nothing else was really that great of a deal yet.

After that, I cruised to WalMart and saw a few school moms there that I had conversations with. Got some necessities and hustled my way to Virginia Mason for a follow-up mammogram. This appointment was spurned from the mammogram I had on Monday, which showed something in my breast that required follow-up.

They did a more specialized mammogram, targeting the area in question. There, on the screen, bigger than life was the mass in question. I could see it. I'm sure my dad could have recognized the area. It was a large, white area in the middle of all this grey area that was the size of a robin's egg. I started to get nervous as she repeated the test several times, from different angles, different apparatuses all accompanied by the same small talk about the weather and being a stay at home mom. The technician said to me, "I'm going to show these to the radiologist. Go ahead and grab a magazine and I'll be back in 5 to 10 minutes."

This was the longest 5 to 10 minutes I've endured in a while. I sat there in the room, gown open in the back, clutching my sweater and bra. My heartbeat pounding in my ears was the only thing that drown out the humming of the mammogram machine and computer. Out loud, I told myself, "Do not cry. Do not do it. You're fine. Do not cry, do not cry, do not cry..." Alas, I didn't cry. The technician came back in and told me that she'd like me to take my things with me over to another room for a ultrasound exam of the same area.

I got into the ultrasound room and the woman who runs this confusing machine got to work immediately. As I lay on my back with my left arm in the air, she started doing passes with the wand between the areas of 12 and 3 (if you can envision my breast as a clock). Just when I thought she wasn't finding the area (I was scrutinizing the screen as well, since I'm such an accomplished ultrasound reader), she whips out a small ruler and measures the distance from my nipple to the mass. She notes the measurement on the ultrasound and continues to fine-tune the image. She finished-up and tells me she's going to discuss the ultrasound with the radiologist. Would I like a magazine? Because she'll be back in 5 - 10 minutes. Just as I was shaking my head no, the radiologist came through the door to discuss the results with me.

Here's where the crying started.

She sat down in front of me while I still lay on the table. She explains that they have found an area they can't explain. Initially, they thought it might be a cyst, but after the ultrasound have decided it is not and could possibly be some kind of mixed tissues, a benign mass... Her voice started to fade out of my consciousness. When I snapped back into it, she explained a few more things. She said my breasts were not dense, but fatty, which made for a radiologists dream exam because anomolies show up quite well against the boring, grey fatty tissue. Dense breasts create for a nightmare exam because there is more tissue and other areas that show up as 'something'. She explained that in her experience, they are able to view tumors that turn out to be cancer right away. She didn't think that what I have in my breast is anything malignant, BUT (there's always a but) sometimes they are surprised by biopsy results. I feel like this is a loaded statement that they must learn in Avoidance 101. They are all so fabulous at not quite offering entire details of a situation.

Now she explains to me that I'm going to have a biopsy. She tells me that I will be numbed and they will take 8 to 10 samples of the questionable area using ultrasound to guide them. I will be sore and I'm not supposed to take any aspirin or ibuprofen products as they promote blood thinning and bleeding. Then, I'm to do nothing strenuous for 3 days (jackpot!). After that, I will have an appointment with my gynecologist and she will tell me the results.

My biopsy is scheduled for May 5th. Cinco de Mayo. That's 11 days away. How will I ever turn my brain off for 11 days? 14 if you include the 3 days I have to wait for results! There are so many things I can worry about between now and 14 days. I'm not good with my head in 'scenario mode'.

It's going to be manic. And, as Amy Winehouse sings...what kind of fuckery is this?

365 Project - Day TWENTY TWO

Tonight, my sister invited me to go see the independent-ish movie, Sunshine Cleaning. The movie played at an old theater in downtown Tacoma called, The Grand Cinema. Essentially, the theater is a non-profit, run by volunteers who are devoted to the cultural enrichment of the community while supporting independent film makers.

The 3 screen theater is nestled into a historic section of Tacoma and is surrounded by a bar (I think?) and a photography gallery. The building is old and comes with all the charms of a historic architectural feat - distinctive odor, old woodwork and calm ambiance.

This was my first time going to the theater and I was happy to have had the experience with my sister and her friend visiting from Boston.

The movie was great. Amy Adams is awesome as is Alan Arkin who looks fabulous in some vintage Diane Von Furstenberg style giant tortoise shell sunglasses. The movie is about a single mom, Rose, (Adams) who has been working as a cleaning lady for rich people in Albuquerque. She has been forever in love with her high school sweetheart, who is married to another woman and has children. While she tells people she's in real estate school at night, she's actually meeting the sweetheart at a motel and having an affair. Her unemployed sister watches her son while she goes to 'night school'. When Rose finds herself cleaning a high school friend's house, she takes some advice from the sweetheart (who's a detective) and begins her own crime scene clean-up business.

She recruits her sister to do these jobs with her and they become quite successful. During the course of the movie, they become attached to some of the families that they are cleaning for and realize their lives sort of parallel these families. When they were young, their mother committed suicide while they played outside in a sprinkler. They had always been told their mother was an extra in a film as a waitress. The sisters watched every movie they could that had a waitress in it, waiting for her signature line, "I recommend the pecan pie...".

In the end, they make some self-realizations and have to close the business after the sister accidentally burns down one of the houses they have been contracted to clean. They finally see their mother on TV, the sister leaves for a road trip and the dad joins Rose in a refreshed cleaning business that he has funded by selling the family home.

It had a great story line, an awesome finish and you got to see the characters grow successfully through the film. I'm so glad I went and I'm equally glad my sister invited me. (thank you!)

I didn't mean for this to turn into a film review, but there really was no better place to see this flick other than The Grand Cinema.

365 Project - Day TWENTY ONE

*ahem*

So, tonight, I went to my friend Ashley's house for this new trend in home sales parties called a Passion Party. Apparently, passion is what you get when you use batteries, latex and lube. In some cases you use benzocaine and in other cases Pyrex (which was touted as being dishwasher safe). We were encouraged to head into the bathroom to apply a product to your clitoris that would enhance an orgasm. It was highly recommended "caffeine for your crotch". Sadly, I have a visitor and that completely discouraged me from the try before you buy on this product. I'm not sure I would've been the first one to run to the bathroom to try it out anyway.

While this is highly sensitive subject matter, I think passion parties are really out there to liberate women. I mean, I learned a lot from the 5 women surrounding me, about their bedroom habits. Margaritas are like truth serum. They also add lots of 'wordy dirds' to your vocabulary and a blush to your face. Women easily speak about their bedroom lives when in a group.

So, out of the array of vibrators, cock rings, his/her cock ring - vibe combos, lubes, nipple enhancers and the like, what did I buy? I bought a reusable warming pack. You click a disk back and forth and it heats up the gel inside. To reuse it, you boil it and let it sit until the next time. I often get cramps or a kink in my neck, so I thought it would be useful.

No, I didn't buy anything with batteries. Afterall, it IS Earth Day. I don't want to contribute used batteries to the landfills. Yes, I'm doing my part to stay passionately green.

365 Project - Day TWENTY

So this is not a new picture of my kids - well, not taken today, but I love it. Fact of the matter is, I didn't take any pictures today. Well, I did take a couple of Remy, but she had her eyes closed and then she ran out of patience. Oh, I also took a picture of an area of my face that I can't decide if it's a coldsore in a weird spot or an infected spot where I scratched a zit (is what the doctor said and I'm currently taking cephalexin for), however, I didn't find this an appropriate venue to post a skin condition. What you may not know is, I have a folder on my computer that's reserved just for photos of ailments; skin conditions, bumps, cuts, bruises, bites, strange afflictions, etc. They are not all mine by the way. Besides, I want everyone to think I'm flawless. Yeah. RIGHT!

I was screwing around with the focus/timer on the 'good camera' and made the kids sit there for the camera to have something to focus on.

This is the result I got. Jack mocking Mazie and Mazie giving the obligatory toothy smile. I really like the candidness of the picture.

365 Project - Day NINETEEN

Remember this sensation? Of being young and riding no-handsies on your bike? Coasting away with the wind in your hair, sometimes billowing your shirt up all around you. If you made it all the way from your starting point without needing to yell, "CAR!" it was a total success.

Oh to be this carefree again. Only worrying about what time your mom is going to make you come in and if she's going to make you take a shower.

I hope Jack remembers these times when he's 35. Maybe the memories will take the pressure off of having to write another mortgage check...

365 Project - Day EIGHTEEN

This is my geriatric cat, Weezer. She's going to be 15 this year. She's surprisingly spry for her age and she is growing old gracefully.

This green mess under her? This is her pom pom that she makes-out with every day. Weezer coyingly ruffles her paws under the pom pom as if to see if 'that invisible something' is still there. This is her way of breaking the ice...foreplay if you will. She then stands up, piles the pom pom under her and runs away as if to say, "Chase me...". When pom pom doesn't come, Weezer saunters back to 'look for the invisible thing' again. These two play this romantic game until the pom pom finally relents and lets Weezer lick its luxurious strands.

Maybe it's dementia. Maybe Weezer misses her life partner that went missing in September. Who knows?

What I know is everyone needs a friend...pom pom or otherwise.

365 Project - Day SEVENTEEN

I know I neglected my blog yesterday, but there was a purpose to that. Last night we got to have the very first sleepover with my niece! We were so excited to have her over. Her mom needed some additional ZZZs, so we were perfectly happy offering to have her stay the night.

The rush of emotion I got when my sister made the decision to say yes, it's indescribable - just the fact that she trusted me with her baby was big for me!

Although I had plenty of helpers here at my house, I made it my goal to do everything myself. My sister has to do everything herself. I know how hard it is to be a first time mom; to try to keep up with the house work, take care of the baby, do bills, shopping, bathing yourself and trying to have a social life at the same time - it's difficult to do even when you have someone there helping you. My sister doesn't have this option and I wanted to, briefly, see what it was like to live in her shoes. I forgot that you can't just set a baby on the couch to grab a Diet Coke and you can't just set them down to go to the bathroom, answer the phone, whatever. You constantly have to be thinking 3 or 4 steps ahead and I think as my kids got older, I sorta got a little lax in this multi-tasking area...

So I just want to say, hooray for my sister. She's doing a great job and I am proud of her ability to do so. She's always been a stellar achiever in everything she does and this motherhood thing is something she's, once again, going to be leading the pack with...

365 Project - Day SIXTEEN

Today, Mazie actually had t-ball practice. It didn't rain, sleet, hail or snow today as it has for every other practice!

To Mazie, this is a bi-weekly social engagement that comes with a uniform. Mazie shines at t-ball, entertaining everybody around her, calling out kids by name and persuading them to play with her while t-ball training is going on all around around her. She doesn't really pay attention to the coaches unless one of them tells her it's time to bat or run the bases.

However, when she bats or runs the bases, she does it surprisingly well. For a girl who doesn't seem to pay one iota of attention to t-ball practice, she is absorbing skills and applying them to the task at hand. A born natural? Who knows?

Maybe she's just naturally gifted...like her mother.

365 Project - Day FIFTEEN

One sure sign of spring is color all around you. I really like spring - the cold mornings, the warm afternoons. All this lets the plants know that they can stretch their arms and show us what they got. Also, it's good for the people with seasonal affective disorder (SAD). They can finally come out of their SAD funk.

Today, I noticed this tree in the corner of my yard. I know the tree is there; my children swing on its branches periodically and I always implore them to quit breaking branches off the tree. During the course of our life here at this house, this tree goes relatively unnoticed as it sits in the corner of our yard. It never does anything fancy, but it's a good lookin tree...one I would keep around.

However, today I noticed that the tree has pink buds. I felt a little bad that I had never paid much attention to the tree and it had to resort to showy foliage to get my attention.

Thanks tree! I see you!

365 Project - Day FOURTEEN

So, I missed blogging yesterday.

Shame on me. I think in the realm of projects I've started, the follow through on this one is going pretty well. There's no way in hell I could sew for 14 days or knit for 14 days, but this is doable for me.

So now, I will write my yesterday's blog as if it was actually yesterday:

Today, I made this cute little useless pouch from a pattern purchased at etsy.com. I heart etsy with a passion and found a pattern for a purse that I've been looking for. The seller was having a special, two patterns for $10, and the purse pattern was $10, so this little pouch pattern was like a freebie.

I'm shocked at myself. I actually printed the pattern, cut the pieces and completed the pouch all in the same day. I made it with fabric that I had stashed, so I didn't need to actually go buy some fabric for it. I also had the vintage button and robbed Mazie of her ponytail holder stash, so it all worked out well.

Now what to put in it?

365 Project - Day THIRTEEN

Now, this is not the highest quality photograph. But, I did with what I had at the time...

I spied Mazie through the sun room glass playing outside. As I watched her for a few minutes, I realized that she had the dog's ball up on the t-ball tee and was pretending that the ball was a microphone. She was talking about something into the ball and then laughing. Then, her stuffed animal there would say something funny to the ball and Mazie would crack up again. They went back and forth a few times and Mazie even took a bow at one point.

I wish I knew what she was saying. Likely, it was anything that would make an adult laugh too... I'm glad the stuffed animal had a sense of humor.

365 Project - Day T W E L V E

Today my espresso machine arrived. I've been researching brands, price etc and finally found this semi-decent one at Macy's. As I do with most products I buy, I check Amazon for reviews and commentary about specific products. I mulled over this one versus the Ariete brand versus a refurbished Saeco versus a DeLonghi - well this one was the right price at Macy's. They had it on sale for 40% off and I had a couple of Macy's gift cards that I have been hoarding which brought the price down to something REALLY affordable for me. I'm excited at the possibility of making a decent coffee drink at home and not having to get dressed to run to Starbucks. Not to mention the price difference between an 85 cent latte (at home) and a $3.83 caramel macchiato (at SB).



Here's my first stab at it. Yes, I spilled grounds, but so do the Baristas at Starbucks. Look at my wonderfully perfect foam. When I get foam that's the image of Jesus, I'll make sure I post it here first. I may just add the word 'barista' to my name...

Have a good day!
Megan Paul, Barista

365 Project - Day E L E V E N

Yay - these Easter baskets signify the last of the Easter madness that was this whole week. I'm sick of eggs, bunnies and candy. I hate feeling that way because I know the kids have such a great time hunting eggs and anticipating gifts from the Big E Bunny. I was so tired of all the rigmarole that I almost spilled the beans to my kids. Almost. Then, I thought ahead to Christmas (which I love) and the questions it might bring along with it and decided to play it safe.

How much fun was it when you were little to come out and find gifts from EBunny? There was nothing more exciting than finding that stuff there - a big tacky basket of sugar and claw machine stuffed animals just waiting for you to tear it open and devour its contents in one day. That's big stuff when you're little...

Jack noticed the empty spot in the garage though because he asked me about it. I lied and told him it was where I had eggs and prizes hidden for the easter egg hunt. How long can I keep up this facade?

365 Project - Day T E N

Well, tonight was the egg hunt. The Flashlight Easter Egg hunt. Did I get any pictures of festive kids with their hopeful faces, flashlights and easter buckets? Nope. I was busy greeting guests, telling said guests about how they were connected to us, them or anyone else there, filling in people on the latest gossip, telling people where to put food, waving cars down to park, stepping on eggs and looking for where I put my Diet Coke again.





My daughter was on PINS AND NEEDLES waiting for her classmate, James, to get there (which is also Mazie's middle name and she thinks it's cool that her and James have the same name). At 3:30 she started asking me how far away James lived. Since I knew he wouldn't be there until 7:30ish, I told her that he lived 4 hours away. Conversations went on like these until 7:30 and James still hadn't arrived. So, Mazie begged me to call his mom. I called his mom and luckily they had a 5 minute ETA. For the hour prior to their arrival, Mazie impatiently waited by the side of the road looking for the white Acura that is James' mother's car. There were several impostors that arrived, a Buick, a Honda, a Chevrolet (all white) and then, just as Mazie was about to give up, James arrived. Mazie did what every demure kindergartener with a crush on her classmate does...she went and tackled James with a giant hug. James is about as big as Mazie is, so it was a pretty even match. She was blissful, James was blissful and the world was right again.

*by the way, not my favorite pic of Mazie. She has chocolate smooshed in her teeth and she kinda looks like a character from How the Grinch Stole Christmas - but I had to get the picture of her time waiting for James *

365 Project - Day N I N E

Oh, finally...we have colored the eggs. Mazie informed me this morning that if we weren't doing it tonight, she wasn't doing it at all. I guess she laid down the law.

The kids were SO careful not to make a giant mess. They used their spoons and didn't spill any of the dye. I just love the way all the eggs look in the carton.

They are agonizing over the fact that I would only let them eat two eggs. The last time we did this, they ate the two allotted, plus snuck at least another 4 or 6 each. That's a LOT of eggs in the tummy. And yes, they had stomach aches and gas pains...

Score one for Mommy.



And a second picture for today because it was an important day for Jack... He was crowned MVP for his little rec basketball team. He was humbly excited for the honor and tried to play it off like he gets these awards every day. His coach, Brian Jenkins, was amazing this year and Jack really learned a lot from him...

365 Project - Day E I G H T

Ok, so every day can't be a super-awesome quality picture. But the subject matter can be super-awesome at any time.

Take for instance one Miss Remy. She looks great in any picture and extra cute when surrounded by Easter eggs and trying to sit up like a big girl.

For those who don't know - she's advanced. I'm just saying...

Today, we stuffed roughly 1100 Easter eggs with enough sugar products to pack a cargo plane. AND we have candy left over. This is for the event happening on Saturday, rain or shine...

And who's the star of the show? Well, one can only guess.

365 Project - Day S E V E N

My friend Tina, who grew up across the street from me, is here from Maryland visiting her parents. Her parents recently completed construction on their dream home and now live 2.5 hours away in Ocean Shores. Well, Tina is only here briefly and since the kids are on Spring Break, we decided we would go visit Tina and her two girls and see her mom and dad's dream/retirement home. Of course it's beautiful...and expansive...and every thing is NEW. Every surface that my children could possibly touch is NEW. And several other children were visiting along with their parents. So, since the house is EXPANSIVE and EXPENSIVE, it's quite stressful to corral kids who are used to mediocre living...

On the other hand, the beach was fun. You know you're visiting the Washington coast in April when you arrive armed with fleece for the kids, a down vest for the mom and sunglasses. And just as expected, it was cloudy and windy with a chance of cold drizzle. The weather did not disappoint and therefore made my hair into something Richard Simmons would be envious of.

Photo, by the way, taken with the timer...first time I tried that!

365 Project - Day S I X

This thing. This harmless contraption. This modern marvel of weights and measures. This fucker is the bane of my existence. Most days, this piece of plastic and metal will determine the course of the rest of my day. It will set the mood and either make me sick to my stomach or have me kicking up my heels and tra-la-la-la-la my ass out the door.

I hate this scale. I hate that it tells me the truth no matter how many chances I give it to lie in the 2 minutes it takes to step on, weigh, step off, frown, step on, weigh, step off, frown, step on, weigh and then step off again.

Today was my aunt's 44th birthday. I wanted to celebrate, be happy, feel good about meeting for lunch, but I just couldn't enjoy myself because the scale can't even tell the teeniest of teeny white lies.

365 Project - Day F I V E

"Mom, watch me... Mom, watch me... Mom, watch me..." has been Jack's mantra since he was about 2 or 3. Back then, the word 'watch' had an entirely different ring to it as Jack learned to speak without a pacifier. I swear there was a K sound in there somewhere. Something like 'watchk'. Through the years, it's evolved from the watch with a k, to something that had the tiniest lisp to it, to a full-on, hear it through the neighborhood, "Mom, watch me!"

I'm thankful for his pre-pubescent Mickey Mouse voice because I know these days are as fleeting as the sunset he's jumping his bike in front of for the millionth time...

365 Project - Day F O U R

I knew this was going to happen. Before I took on this project, I thought to myself, "Self? What happens if you like more than one picture for your day? What happens if there's no pictures for the day?" What does a girl with a project do? Collage? Choose one? I dunno!

So, I decided to just group together my favs from today and post 'em all. When I publish my book at the end of the year, I may have to just choose one.

We went over to my parents today to clean up the yard in preparation for next weekend's Flashlight Easter Egg hunt. Yes, that's right, the kids hunt for eggs in the dark, using only a flashlight to spot the goods. My sister set today as the day we went to clean up the place. Mom usually talks about the 60+ hours it takes her to rake 'dangerous sticks' and leaves, so we all decided to pitch in this year and do the dirty work. To me, my parents yard is usually immaculate, beautiful and picturesque. This is probably because I don't see my mom doing the work 'behind the scenes', but the fruits of her labor show. She claims my dad merely rides around the yard for 2 hours on the riding lawn mower when he's not globe-hopping and drives over the various debris in the yard in the hopes it will somehow get mulched under the mower. While he does have an obsession with mowing the grass and washing his car, he also enjoys moving piles of dirt and chopping wood. Anyway, we all congregated at my parents to do this yard work and get things ready. On hand for labor were Kelby, Cindy, Taylor, Jason, Donna and Jim and Annie. The kids came too and had a blast. I'm not sure how much work we got done compared to how much we thought we might get done, but we got some things done.

In the first image, Miss Remy was smiling at me and I couldn't resist adding this picture! I had to take it quick because when she noticed the black camera, she got interested in that, not me. She's getting so big. I'm so happy she's my niece.



Jack in a skirt - yes, my boy is willing to be androgynous when I ask. This wrap skirt is one my mom dug out of my keepsakes and said, "Here...want your skirt?". Now it fits me like an apron, but I'm not sure I ever wore it when it was merely a wrap skirt. This was one of the souvenirs that my Grandma Kay brought back from her 20 year ago trip to Fiji - along with a poofy sheepskin purse that I'll never forget the smell of. I wish Grandma would have got one for herself.



Picture three - the pile of eggs that Jason and I washed today (merely a portion). Since this egg hunt boasts egg totals of well over 700, we save the eggs year after year. They were pretty disgusting from being used and sitting in the shed for 2 years, so we washed 'em up. They were upside down drying in the sun and I really liked all the colors together.



Picture four - Well, I had to add picture 4. This is my measly pile of 'dangerous sticks and debris' that my mom insisted be disposed of. A couple of times I challenged my mom to the reasoning behind raking up minuscule sticks, but she mommed-out on me and won the argument.



It was such a beautiful day - 68 the temperature read in the van. Thank goodness we might actually have a spring...

365 Project - Day T H R E E

Today was quite a day.

Jack was in the Daffodil parade on the Fife Community Float. He would be riding with his friends on the float which was decked-out with a baseball theme. It was a scheduling nightmare and the logistics of coordinating my child with the float people, finding a parking spot as well as finding a seat lining the streets of Puyallup. Luckily, my mom was the 'seat scout' and she was able to find us some seats near the end of the parade. When we finally got there we were all geared-up to watch the parade and anticipate the cruising by of Jack's float. There was even cell phone exchanges between my sister's friends, who were sitting up farther in the parade route, "Have you seen him? Nope, not yet. Have you seen him? Nope, not yet. Have you seen him? Yes, he should be coming around the corner in 3 minutes 46 seconds behind a jazz team and a marching band." Jason even went up the street a little to watch for Jack's float and then radio back which side of the float he was on for prime picture taking. The moment arrived, Jack was rounding the corner. I could see him beaming and doing the wave that we discussed (make sure you wave, especially at the little kids - they love that). I jockeyed for position across the street so I was on the same side as Jack. I have the camera in hand...push the power button. Frown. Push the power button again. WTF? Push it harder this time. My heart pounding, I suddenly realize I have 0% battery. My moment; my child's moment that I had planned on capturing digitally...gone in a moment of lithium lifelessness. The moments of stress and anticipation suddenly culminated into a cataclysmic mix of emotions and what does any mother do? What does Megan do? Megan started crying. At the Daffodil Parade. It reminded me of the time that I cried at Disneyland because I got my Croc stuck in the trolley train tracks in the middle of Main Street (last year!). I seem to have the knack for crying at the happiest places on earth.

I can only hope that a few of the other parents posted along the parade route were able to capture an image of my son on that cheezy float.

Fast forward to 7:00pm...

So, for Jason's 38th bday, I got him tickets to see an MMA fight at the new Snoqualmie Casino up near Snoqualmie Pass. My brother actually watched the fight with Jason while my sister and I did some gambling. One thing I will say about playing slot machines is, I'm really consistent. I consistently lose. My friend Annie once told me that she's particular to justifying a trip to the casino by pointing out that every time you go it's a potential investment.

I have played this particular game, Rembrandt Riches, several times before, always looking in amazement at how one of the characters looks remarkably like my father when he had a comb-over and a few years of alcoholism under his belt. Probably around the time when he and my bio mom divorced. We'll refer to this time as, "When I was little..."

Anyway, since I bombed on capturing my child's parade moment on my camera, here's a snapshot from my camera phone of my dad pictured on a slot machine game.

365 Project - Day T W O

Here's Mazie this morning - still feverish. But, lower than it was at 2am (103). Got some soup in her today and she's been non-stop watching the cartoons. She did tell me, "Mom, I didn't know there was a REAL Popeye...I thought it was just a song!"

365 Project - Day O N E

Well, here I am at another project. I intend to finish this one. Although, I'm a day late in starting it. This tidbit summarizes most things I start in my life. They had to create a word for people like me; procrastinator.

I was going to start this project yesterday, April 1st, but alas I created an April Fools joke for myself.

Here's picture number one. Taken this evening of Mazie with a grown-up towel on her head. She has a fever of 101.8 and I'm not sure why. Look at Jack trying to hijack the shot...