My Good-Bye

Here's to extra large bottles of Heineken and funny porn. To hiding bottles and bras before elevator arrivals. To finding our "Sugar Daddy". To number 38 and 69 pole dancing till 1am. To uncontrollable hospital laughter, dancing out the gate, and black river tours. To paging "Mary Jane", swan ballet at Starbucks, and Oktoberfest at Foster. To late night Twizzler runs and Elephant sightings. To catching fish, meetings at Good Times, I-POD's, JackDaniel's, and tequila shots.

Go find yourself my friend! Take hold of all the world has to offer. The future is yours!

With all my love...Here's to choosing "Heather".

~Sob~Sniff~Sigh~

I miss my honey. How will I ever fall asleep without him beside me? ~sigh~

Sick

I'm going downhill...fast.

For the last three days I have barely seen the light of day. I am sick. Horribly, terribly, utterly sick. My throat is all but closed completely. I'm hot, I'm cold, I'm achey, I'm feverish, and I'm wiped out. The one and only time I did manage to venture out, five of my friends told me I looked as if I was standing on death's doorstep. Thanks guys.

Al has been amazing. He calls the kids in the mornings to make sure they are up and readying for school. He calls them in the afternoon to check that they are doing homework. When he finally gets home, he cleans the house, does the laundry, makes dinner, and cares for me. I am so thankful for him. What a wonderful man! Whatever will I do without him?

Sorry to end this so abruptly, but I've just hit my wall. I need to rest. Later!

Awake

It's 2am and I can't sleep again. What is it exactly that keeps one up night after night. My mind isn't busy running over all the events of the day. Nor is it making lists of all I've to accomplish tomorrow. In fact, most nights I simply lay awake with a mind numbing sense of boredom.

Usually, when sleep eludes me, I find myself writing...letters, poetry, songs, just about anything to keep me busy. When it is late at night I am never overly insightful or thought provoking. In fact it would be safe to say that most of my insomniatic writings are simply over-thought chicken scratch. Anyone who has had the misfortune of receiving one of my late night (or early morning after no sleep) e-mails can attest to that. My apologies if you are one of the unlucky few to be on my "insomniac hit list".

If nothing else, my writings are amusing. Usually they are the things I laugh at the following day when the peace of night has passed away and the busyness of life grounds me. They are always good for a few giggles or a roll of the eyes before being wadded up and rightly tossed in the garbage.

Nothing interests me at this exact second. Continuing on with this entry seems senseless as I've nothing in particular to write about. But when I consider the alternatives...laying in bed staring at the ceiling, flipping through a continuous stream of television channels, or re-reading an old novel...I just can't seem to close this blog.

The quiet in this house is deafening. I should be thankful for it as there are a good many who can't find a single moment of silence in which to rest their minds. Odd how the quiet for some can often be as loud as the noise for others.

Okay, ending this. Hoping sleep will come quickly so not to risk boring everyone to tears with yet another blog entry or heaven forbid a yawn-inspiring e-mail (wink). Rest well.

Forgotten Evening

Here are a couple photos from Al's party Friday night. We had a good time (I think). Neither Al or I had anything to eat before we went out, so it made for an interesting evening. Despite the fact that we had intended on being home early since Alex was scheduled to work the next day. Sometimes things just don't go according to plan.

After 6 hours of double Jack 'n Coke's and countless shots of B52's Al pretty much hit his wall. The taxi did manage to get us home with minimal directing from me (thanks to Boone and his foresight)!! Unfortunately, no one could foresee Al waking to find his wallet missing. I ended up driving him into work and immediately beginning my search for his wallet, rather than crawling back into bed as originally planned.

I checked at The Cove, in the parking lot, our front yard, and every nook and cranny of our house. When the wallet didn't turn up, Alex called the cab company (not an easy feat when you don't speak Japanese). Still, nothing.

At this point the search had become a group effort, enlisting help from the kids, Kim, and friends from the party. Finally, around five, a message was received from The Banyan Tree: "We have Mr. Holt's wallet." WHOOPPEE!!!!!

Turns out the taxi was called to that club after dropping us off at home. Whomever hopped in that cab next must have found the wallet and turned it in (after extracting their "finders fee", that is). Thankfully, I was the lucky woman in charge of money at the party, which means our wallet rescuer only made off with about $40.00. With everything else in place, we considered it a small price to pay.

Needless to say, it was a memorable night (or not, I can't remember). I only hope Al will look back on it with such fondness.

Birthday Boy

HE'S 30!!!!!!! Yesterday was the big day! Al is no longer twenty-something.

Since the big day fell on a Tuesday, Alex really didn't have much chance to sleep in...not that he didn't try. He is usually out of bed by 4:00, but managed to hit that snooze button until 5:15. When he finally did join the land of the living (not that there are many to join at that hour) he was greeted by fresh coffee and cinnamon rolls. That's right folks, I woke up and made breakfast (I can mange once every 30 years!!).

Knowing full well that Al was wanting to keep his birthday "on the down-low", Micaiah and I decided to drop in on him just before lunch. Thanks to a few well placed guys in the team room, we were able to thoroughly embarrass the man. There's nothing like opening your office door to find a miniature grim reaper delivering balloons and inviting you out to soba.

After work Al was greeted at home by cards, gifts, and lasagna (his favorite). And for dessert a strawberry cheesecake topped with an emergency candle (I'm not sure we could've fit 30 candles on there).

I think it was a good birthday. I HOPE it was a good birthday. Of course, there is still the weekend.

And for those of you curious...yes, I bought a new digital camera. I couldn't very well capture this milestone on a camera phone could I?

Anchorage, Okinawa

So it's a little cold in my house...big deal.

I find that 76 is a nice reasonable indoor temerature during the summer months. Plenty cool enough to get that smack of air when you walk in from the heat of the day. However two days ago the thermastat in our house was replaced and now I can barely get that thing to inch over 61. Here it is, the middle of September, and I am walking around in flannel pajamas, a huge fleece robe and fuzzy slippers. My toes have offically turned into ice cubes and I am fairly positive there is an icesicle forming on the tip of my nose.

Poor Alex...He must be having flashbacks of our winters spent in Colorado or Washington. I spent the entire afternoon huddled on the couch trying to snuggle my feet up under his sweatshirt for a little warmth. I'm pretty sure I sent him flying through the roof a few times. I feel terrible...really I do. But it isn't my fault he is so darn warm blooded, my cold toes-ies ache to be against his skin. hehehehe!!

I have to admit, at first it was kind of fun. Big sweaters, cuddling close to the one you love, drinking hot cocoa, watching movies while wrapped in a big fluffy blanket. It was like mid-autumn back home. In fact, I think the leaves of my house plants will begin to change soon. Unfortunatly my family doesn't view this in quite the same way I do. The kids are whiny, my husband is cranky, and everyone is too damn cold to move. It sort of makes me want to hybernate!

The night before last, Ashton readied for bed by donning sweatpants, an oversized sweater, and two pairs of socks. And tonight I went to kiss Tristyn good-night and saw that she and Micaiah both were huddled under her mink blanket wearing jackets. By tomorrow Kayl should be finished with the firepit he is constructing at the foot of his bed. Either that or everyone will take to sleeping on the trampoline so to enjoy the warmth the night air has to offer.

Okay, so my house is freezing...it's just that I can't seem to figure this new thermostat out. My last one was digital. When you wanted 76, you pressed the button untill it read 76. Duh, a monkey could've worked the thing. Now there are little lines and dots (lines and dots suck). And the numbers aren't even directly under the line or dot they should be, so I am left to guess. Don't the thermostat makers know that I am terrible at guessing? For heavens sake, my children are going to die of hypothermia all because of a bunch of lines and dots!!!

Ah well. Eventually I should figure this doohicky out..but until then my family shall remain at the north pole.

Ice anyone??

Study Group

School is in full force which means every day my kids tote home loads of homework.

I was never much for homework. I'm sure I must have had homework in my classes as a child, but I really don't remember spending too much time on it. Did my grades suffer? Sure they did, but not to the extent one might imagine. My report cards were simply average. Later on in highschool I prided myself on not having to study for tests. Fortunately memorization came very quickly and naturally to me. Read a book...pass a test. If I was lucky enough to have a teacher that loved writing information on the board...all the better! That info just stuck (many thanks to Mr. Reynolds-sociology & psychology-grades 11 & 12). Heck, I even remember making the honor roll a couple of times and never cracking a book. All this and I graduated with two babies. Can you imagine how well I would've done had I applied myself in class? (Yes mom, I get it now!!)

Unfortunately, my lack of study skills are now coming back to haunt me. I have such a VERY difficult time teaching my children HOW to study. One would think this task to be simple, but let me assure you, it is not. It's much like tossing a city girl in front of a dairy cow and telling her to milk it. You know it can be done, and perhaps have even witnessed it first hand, but the actual ACT of milking seems all together foreign.

So here I am, 28 years old, baffled at how, besides reading them over and over, I can get these vocabulary words to stick in the mind of my 2nd grader. Begging my 5th grader to look over the map again for his impending geography test, because I truly don't know how on earth one would study a map. Or pleading with my 6th grader to go over her flash cards just once more, without giving her the impression that math is my nemesis. It is the one thing that completely eludes me.

I am thankful however. This "memorization" ability is seemly passed down from generation to generation. My mother is a brilliant woman and so is Alex's mom. And whether or not he would ever admit it to anyone, studying comes very naturally to Alex. He simply doesn't struggle. Now my theory is proving true in my own children. Most of our kids have no trouble with spelling tests (Ash obviously inherited some throw-back gene from an ancestor with terrible spelling). On the other hand most things really do stick in her mind if she focuses enough to absorb them.

Math comes very naturally to both Isreal and Tristyn (they obviously did not get this from me). As a matter of fact, damn near everything comes naturally to Israel and Tristyn who must have gotten hit with the study stick at birth. Kayl on the other hand struggles a bit more than the other kids. Thankfully though,he applies himself like no child I have ever seen. I have to admit there is something to be said for someone who has to work a bit harder for what they want. It will carry him far in life.

What am I most thankful for this year? Ashton and two of her friends from class began a study group. We all live in the same neighborhood, which makes alternating houses easy. And all the girls get along (most of the time) which is a feat in itself when you are discussing 12 year old girls. So basically a couple times a week 3 pre-teens invade my dining room, eat and drink everything within reach and ask me questions about fractions and Egyptian pyramids. Whatever, Ash is getting her homework finished and I don't even have to listen to her complain that life is passing her by while I force her nose into a book. It's like killing two birds with one stone, she socializes and passes her classes. Thank heaven for small miracles!

Life is good, school is good, and my laundry is done. Who could ask for more!!

First Day

Here is a photo of the kids first day of school last week. WHAT AN EARLY MORNING!!!! Braeden was so bummed that day. His first day is tomorrow (Sept 7). Micaiah and I are going to have the house all to ourselves. Whatever shall we do?? Surely wewill find something to occupy out time!!