Things are flyin' by

I cannot believe it is December. Where did the year go? I took 2 weeks from work (1 for vacation, 1 for a conference). Not really 2 weeks off but 2 weeks away from the office. My younger brother and his family came into town and we really enjoyed their visit for the first week. Then I attended a conference in Nashville from the US Dept of Education for the second week.

Rachel was a trooper being by herself with all the children for a full work week. Her bus driving schedule changed that same week and she survived it all. She is a very resilient person and I truly appreciate what she does.

Christmas lights are up and we just put up the tree. Paisley, Ayden and Kaleb took care of the interior and Zachary took care of the outside. Everything looks great and I did not have to do much but offer encouragement and suggestions. I wish everything worked this easy.

Got back to work and was hit from all side about this, that and the other thing. Welcome back to work Chris!! :-) A couple people are retiring from JCCC (not in my office), which could have a positive affect on the future. Will wait and see how these things unfold.

Now off to home to be with the 4 youngest at a school activity. Rachel will be at a church function. The teenagers can fend for themselves.

Conference time

I am in charge of the program for an 8 state conference that starts this weekend. I was a bit overwhelmed last week, with last minute changes and attending to minute details! A few things slipped through the cracks but for the most part, everything came together. We have a nice printed program. Many people volunteered to help out and I feel a huge weight off. Next week will be much different.

Many of the people in my office are volunteering to help with the conference in various ways, so emotions are very high currently. People are excited, no one has lost their temper yet (which I kind of expected).....nice surprise! The conference officially starts on Sunday night and ends on Wednesday. I will be checked out of everything else during that time.

I will report back once it is over....

Church

Church is always such a hard battle in our family. Everyone goes but it is hard to get everyone there on time. I am at church 2 hours earlier than most for leadership meetings, this places Rachel in the situation of getting everyone there herself. Well, because she is outnumbered 6 to 1, there may be some things she overlooks.

The funniest thing happened yesterday....Rachel is tired of waiting on people to get to church, she has to show up to get her class set up and ready. She likes to be there by 830am. This is later than school is for the children, so you would like there would be no problem....think again! Rachel does not like to take multiple cars to church, waste of gas and energy. She left the house and left the 3 oldest children at home on Sunday (Ayden, Paisley and Zachary). The assumption was that Zachary would bring the other two children. Ayden was so upset that he went down to the basement not realizing that Zachary and Paisley were still getting ready. They left to church without Ayden.

The first church meeting had started and my phone was vibrating. It did this a few times, voice messages were left. I could not figure out what was going on. Rachel had left the meeting to go out, I did not know what she was doing. I could not figure out who was calling me...I thought I had seen all of the children there. Once sacrament (communion) was blessed and passed I asked Zachary to call home and see what was the matter. I asumed Rachel had gone home with a sick child. I did not realize it was Ayden, until Zachary came in with Ayden...boy did he look mad!

I finally got the whole story after the meeting. Ayden got over it. On my way home from church I decided to listen to the messages Ayden left. I laughed the whole way home...."Dad, Mom LLLEFT me (pause, sob, hang up)." 2nd message..."Do not let MOM come and get me, DO NOT let MOM come and get me, (pause, sigh, hang up)." I laughed the whole way home. Ayden can be an emotional child and this was signature him today!

The day ended great. I still chuckle about this today!

Back at it....enjoy the silence.

Today was a good day. Did my 4th and 6th grade homework (Kaleb and Ayden), got to work on time, sat in meetings most of the day, ate healthier, played basketball and cleaned some of the house. Rachel is coming down with a cold. I do not like to see her sick, probably because it rarely happens. She does a lot around the house and it is hard to see her try and get things done is such a state.

Zachary hit a deer in his car tonight coming home from basketball. It is not too bad. We will probably make a trip to a car grave yard and find a panel to replace the one that is dinged.

We are pulling tons of tomatoes out of our garden. There are probably 30-40 sitting on our counter. I need to find some time to make some salsa and can it. We have been blanching and freezing the tomatoes but do not have too much more room in our freezers.

Isaac and Connor were outside tonight eating their pizza. They were singing and eating, it was fun to see them have some much fun eating. They were watching Zach mow the lawn next door. They were seeing how loud they could get.

I am having 80's flashbacks today. Weird. I am all the sudden thinking of songs that I used to listen to. Remembering friends and places, kind of cool.

I cannot believe how quite it is around the house. This rarely happens. It is kind of nice. Enjoy the silence..........

Chris

WOW

Rachel and I have been treading water for the past few months. School starting was a difficult challenge for both of us this time. It is hard to track 5 individual homework plans and activities on top of that. We need to simplify our lives much more. I need to blog so I can write through my emotions and make some plans.

One thing I did do recently was set up a plan to live healthier. I set up a separate blog because a friend and I (I twisted his arm hard enough) are going to help motivate each other to keep going and make better choices. The blog is wowtohealth....I will see how it goes. My friend, Miles, used the phase social accountability. I guess that is why I am blogging my path to health.

I need to find better balance in my life and hopefully this will help with my overall commitments. My wife would have fainted if she reads this.

Here is to a better life!

Curly freakin’ hair!

Not sure if people with straight hair have these same issues but…having curly hair I am very loyal to the products that I put in my hair. There are a few things that make the curls behave and do what they are supposed to do. A few years ago, I was a faithful user of a certain Tresemme’ pomade. I would buy a few canisters every so often and be good for a bit. I went to the store to obtain more and they were out. I asked the sales associate if they would get more shipped, he told me they will not carry that product any more. I thought I would be able to find some, somewhere else…but didn’t!

I then went through this sampling phase of trying something out for a few days, not liking it, choosing something else, over and over again. I am sure my family wonders why I have a variety of things I do not use. Finally, I found something that works VO5. A few years go by…last night hits me in the face!!! No one carries the stuff I have been using faithfully for these years!! AAARRGGGHH! I feel like Elaine in Seinfeld with her sponges…..can anyone say STOCK PILE! I wish I would have purchased a case of my hair goop.

I spent an hour in the hair product isle last night. That is a bit unnatural for a guy to be looming in that isle for more than 2 minutes. I would look, open bottles, leave for a minute, then come back. I think I found something…I keep feeling my hair today (also a little unnatural)…so far, so good. Maybe I will be exempt from the multiple tries this time. I just wish someone would send me a memo…”Chris, your hair product is becoming obsolete, stock up”!

I know I am being petty today…it is actually a respite from my daily work today! Curly Hair Away!

Sickness Blahhhhh….Health Blaaaahhhhh....

Whenever I get sick it makes me reflect on my own mortality! I guess I should do it more than that but don’t. We are very resilient, frail creatures. We cannot control the sickness that invades our bodies (in some cases) but can come back worn, but well afterwards. I am always amazed at what a simple virus, bacteria, infection can do to an individual…it can have riveting affect on body and soul. Sometimes when I get sick I remember nightmares that I had as a child that seemed so real to me but are now just a small memory. This time it was a little chilling how some of those young, tender feelings came back a little stronger than anticipated. When I am well I cannot bring those feelings and ideas to my mind…this continues to amazes me …the profound interconnectedness of body and soul.

These thoughts makes me more cognizant of my health+attitude+mental state=output for interactions with others. These things need to stay in balance in order to have meaningful, productive days. Now I am starting to sound like Stuart Smalley…gag. I am just glad to be back to normal (whatever that means).

My wife does yoga and Adriana Heskett mentioned in one of her last blogs about being sore from it but hopefully finding its usefulness. If I had an outlet like this to find my center and to improve my mental state, I know it would be extremely helpful to me daily. I need to find the gumption to commit and stay with something like that……….PAUSE A DAY……….listen to some elevator music………………....I found the motivation (I believe) to get my physical state to a better place. I had a good talk with a friend last night and he will help motivate me, and inspired me to do better.

Get up and get goin’!

Food and visitors

This will blow a couple peoples’ minds now that I posted on my blog so quickly…I am branching out a bit!

This past weekend we attended a Valentine’s progressive dessert event with some friends. It was delicious. The person that was organizing the event asked if I could make a chocolate dessert. I have learned how to make a good flourless chocolate cake recently…so I agreed to make it. To make it even richer I told her I would put chocolate mousse on top. Those that know me, know that I go to great lengths to make something good and from scratch. I have never made chocolate mousse from scratch before but thought this would be a great opportunity. The cakes turned out great. I made the chocolate mousse and IT WORKED! I was so surprised and tickled that it turned out.

I placed a small piece of cake in cups with a spoonful of mousse and whipped cream for presentation. I had many great comments on the taste and texture. We took the left-over cups to our neighbors and friends. It was a satisfying experience. Sometimes (I wish) that I could just cook for my vocation! I guess if I did that it may not be as satisfying….who knows. I heart cooking!!!

Rachel and I had a good weekend. We attended the chocolate night and then went out and had a great lunch together on Saturday (we chose lunch, because restaurants at night on V-Day would be horrific!). We exchanged small gifts, the kids were reasonable…do I need to knock on wood now!?

Rachel called her parents and spoke with her father. Each of the children took their turn to speak with their grandpa. I think the children enjoyed it? These are the grandparents they rarely get to see. They live in Idaho, we live in Kansas. They DO NOT travel. So the only way our children see Rachel’s side of the family is if we go to Idaho, unfortunately but true. It is so hard to get 8 people to Idaho often on a limited budget. Rachel’s family it very giving and loving, but they do not travel long distances often. Rachel desires for our children to know them better, we need to find a way for that to happen.

My family travels all over. We have someone stopping by our house every season. It helps that we are in a historical place where people come to visit for various reasons. Plus our children get to interact with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins from my side all the time. My parents stopped by for a brief visit a couple of weeks ago. I think when those type of visits happen, Rachel’s yearning for her parents heightens. We will see how we can remedy this need in the future.

High school interactions

I have 2 teenagers. Given that I go to high school/college planning sessions that the high school counselors provide. Every time I go to one of these sessions I expect to hear something quite outlandish regarding preparing/financing of college. Monday night was NO different. The high school counselor told students that they did not need to take certain classes (like foreign language) to get into college. He indicated that it would be nice but not required. I raised my hand immediately and shared with the mis-guided parents that in order to qualify for State scholarship, their students would need to take an additional language class. I had a few parents give me a "thumbs up" or a smile after my comment.

After the session was over I introduced myself to the high school counselor and told him I could help him in any way in the future to ensure accurate information was given out. He declined! We have a yearly training for these counselors to learn about the intricacies of financial aid....the school my children attend NEVER attend these training sessions! I would like to scream.

Maybe I expect too much from these individuals, but every time I attend one of their sessions I either correct the information or have to bite my tongue. I have contacted this school many times to offer my services and have consistently been rebuffed. One of these days when I am sitting down with the principal at a school activity, I will bend her ear. I hope her ear bounces back to its original shape once I am done.

I had to get this one off my chest…tirade over!

I know....

Here I am updating my blog (that really isn't a blog at all because I seldom write things). This HAS to become a more common occurrence or I really should not be doing this.

We are in the “idle hand” stage at work, this is the lull before the storm for most of my staff. This gives them opportunities to create some interesting situations and attend to trivial, menial things that, when busy, they do not attend to (idle hands are the devils workshop). I am a shameless non-delegator and could eliminate some of these games if I could just give up something. Alas, here I sit overwhelmed at the things on my plate (and manage to get done) but I would be in a happier place if I did not put myself through such torture.

I learned the other day that there is a Café’ on the top floor of Nordstrom’s (I do not shop there, I can’t even afford the air to breathe in there). I went there with some colleagues at work and had a delightful lunch. So I learn of a new place to dine and that it has some of the best tomato/basil soups around. This dog learned a new trick!

That is it for right now, so I do not overdue myself on my first entry since????