Category Archives: Fam Time

Amethyst Diving

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Last week I was in Lake Havasu visiting the family, and swimming and other combinations of those two. Mostly I came back tired and burnt, but hey, it was fun.

The last day of swimming in the channel next to the London Bridge, I did some rock diving. One specific rock diving: Amethyst. I’ve found it all around the lack, channel and even up river during previous trips. Not to be disappointed this time, I managed to find some whole amethyst chunks as well as some mixed specimens.

These are not gem grade rocks. They are pretty, mostly when wet. I’m thinking about polishing them up a bit though. We’ll see. Oh? That picture is me and the kids riding behind Dad’s boat.

We’re silly that way.

Off to Arizona

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I’m leaving for Arizona tomorrow and I’m trying to get some blog posts done, and some articles finished. I’m almost packed.Internet will be spotty, and what I can through my phone…which is alot. So the only difference will be I won’t be available all day.

So sun, water, and more sun. See you in a week!

12,200 Feet to Say Farewell

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Last weekend we said goodbye to Bob Stevenson. He was my uncle by marriage to my mother’s sister. Most of things about him I already knew. I grew in Breckenridge and he and my aunt Kim were the only extended family nearby.

After the memorial we hiked up to Mohawk lakes. He lived near the trail head for…ever…so we took some ashes, dropped them at the falls then hiked up to the top. I admit it was a hard hike for me. But I’m glad I did it. I haven’t been up there since high school.

Bob was, well Bob. He was a part of my life from the beginning and many of us hadn’t seen him in years. We were pretty sure he would appreciate the hike right down to the hail at the end.

I don’t know exactly how to feel about all of this. I wish him well where ever he is now, but my memories of him were already that. Memories.

Of Sun and Towers

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My expectations for this week were to finish the major revisions on my novel, talk about that process, then start the (re)outline for the next novel. That’s still coming. Maybe next week. This turned into a different sort of beast.

My nearly five year old nephew was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes this last Tuesday. It, as apparently most of these diagnosis’ do, came suddenly. My sister was called from his preschool to pick him up. He proceed to fall deeper and deeper into lethargy during the day. She took him to the hospital and they ended up at Children’s with an Insulin drip.

After a day and half they let him out to go to classes for diabetics. We all went with to offer moral support and learn how to take care of him when he was in our care. The pattern is working itself out. The shots and tests are painless or nearly so, and he is taking it well. Management isn’t easy but he’s adjusting. They have a 24 hour emergency line for support no matter when you need it, he’s assigned a doctor, a nurse, a dietitian and a social worker, he got to pick out a bracelet and he gets to show kids his “kit”.

Being me, I wasn’t really angry about it like the parents and the grandparents. Hey, I’m the gal with 3 chronic conditions. I wish I got the support my nephew is getting. I’ve been through the stages of grief with myself. For my nephew I’m just going to have to be damage sponge. Am I scared for him? Hell, yes. But at the same time by caring for him and listening to him and his mom when they need it, I can help ensure (as much as anyone can) he’ll live 100 more years or so.

He’s a good kid, not into candy and soda, loves lunch meat, cheese, and fruit (some veggies). I’m sure he’ll be okay. I’ve seen him go from lethargic to vibrant in the space of a workday. He’ll do.

So forgive me if I’m a little behind. Gotta deal with the sun and tower first.

Meditation

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My uncle Bob died last week.

It’s difficult to think about. My aunt divorced him last year so technically he wasn’t my uncle anymore. But…my aunt was married to him for 33 years. I will always know the time because of the story behind their marriage in the first place. My aunt, with her new boyfriend, was still broken up. No one blames her. My uncle had dug his own holes and burned his bridges. But 33 years is a long time.

Originally he and my aunt had only wanted to move in together…had they done this, they mayn’t have ever gotten married. But they chose the worst possible time to tell my grandparents…on the eve of my parents wedding. My mother, sixteen and several months pregnant with me was in the midst of planning a shotgun wedding with my father. So when my aunt broke the news to my then Catholic grandparents they broke into tears. It was decided that since the entire family was there anyway, my aunt would be married the day after my mother. Their wedding pictures look very similar…they used the same tuxes, blue. The same people are there…it’s all very odd.

My uncle used to play hide and seek with us in the woods. He’d sneak up on us and scare us. He took us sledding and let us jump on the bed in the guest room or read in the den of his house. I think he may not of liked it but he let us.

The last time I saw him was five years ago. He was laying on my grandparents couch, with my dog, then a very tiny puppy, sitting on his chest. He laughed.

He fought with my dad, he didn’t like to travel or family holidays, he had people help him around his house but refused to help others.

But he was my uncle.

Going to Vegas

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J: Once we hit town, since check in isn’t until 4, we can hit Costco for the stuff we’ll need that week. If I understand that map, at least of them is fairly close to the condo.

Me: Your Costco worship is crazy mad. But sure. :)

J: Blasphemer.

Me: Good thing Costco hasn’t got the Ikea route yet. I can image you’d jump on the chance for a Costco apartment or hotel room.

J: You will burn in Big Lots for that.

Me: Why are you going to burn down Big Lots? You like Big Lots.

J: I couldn’t think of a better alternative store for hell. Work with me here.

Had Fun on Vacation, Not So Much at Home

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So Arizona was fun. I managed not to fall out of the raft or the boat but my brother did. We spent nearly every day in or near water as my family is wont to do. I’ll get some pictures up.

J. hurt his back after we got home. It’s pretty bad but he says it’s bit better. The stress worry is getting to me.

I’ll post more in a bit…I have three go-lives with a dead line of next week and a chapter to finish. Busy me.

There is TMI in this Post Amoung the Weekend Updates

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So no, the weekend did not start out well with my computer dying, again. I’m actually extremely upset now as I know it’s a hardware issue. At the end of the week I should have an update on that. Any bets on what I’ll get from Dell this time?

Writing went well this weekend. Not only did I finish a chapter, but I’ve joined a new critique group. This is looks much more committed than my last group and we have a good range of folks both in ability and background. After they left I managed to pound out another 1000 words. Creativity abounds.

We did Aia’s b-day party this weekend. McDonald’s totally dropped the ball. Nothing was ready, no one seemed to know what to do. They managed to get their act together in the end but dang. We’re not going back there next year. So I need to scout out a new place.

Heroes sucks now…have I told you that? The suckage is so bad that they are now sticking random sex in for the hell of it. Noah actually waited to start shooting until after teh sexes. Stupid. Hiro is still my fav as he’s the ONLY character to learn from his mistakes. And the only guy who deals with the bad guys first. Chances of continuing to watch this show though are near nil.

Our movie night is now on LOST. Day late and a dollar short I know. We’re finding the show fairly predictable, but good anyway. We can deal with that. People say it’s gets weirder. We’ll see.

Now for the TMI. My period started this weekend. The bad thing about that? It’s only been two and a half weeks since my last period. Not good. In fact very bad. The last time this happened, I was in the middle of massive cancer screenings which boiled down to the hypothyroidism. Has it gone further in the wonky? Or is this the PCOS? With the hair loss, the bloating, the mood thing I’m worried. Doc on Friday. Hoping we can deal with this with a medication adjustment. Hoping.

Things We Did

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The holiday weekend was full of weird things. First, of course, came Thanksgiving. This holiday went like most except Aia decided to have a full on melt down which resulted in a spanking and a long time out (which relatives trying “help” by giving her whatever she wanted didn’t). Basically she spilt water on her dress. I took her in the back room where gma keeps another wardrobe for her (really, she does) and started picking through them. This is where the full on fit happened as she insisted that the clothes weren’t hers even when gma came back to show me where all her clothes were. Aia started screaming and hitting. We got the dress off and the new one on. She didn’t stop and got a spanking and time out.

Being at the grandparents meant I had to take drastic measures. I then took the dress (and all her other overnight clothes) and hid them. Not two seconds later the aunt and the gpa were looking for the dress to give back to her in all its sopping glory. I wouldn’t tell them were it was. Gpa went back to try to threaten her out of crying when she revealed to his horror that she’d been spanked.

OMG the earful I got. Spanking is evil, I’m a horrible mother, I should be taken away in chains etc.

Wait for it.

From the man who used to use his BELT.

If you don’t see the irony here, I can’t help you. My daughter gets a swat on the bum and dress put over her head. She’s never had a belt to her bum. I have and it still hurts.

Finally she calmed down. Other relatives came and all was forgotten. By the end of the night my daughter was sitting with me again. When she came out and apologized, I washed her face, gave her a drink and some food. Then we played Hawaiian Go Fish. The rest of the night went well.

Friday I had to work. Very quiet. Didn’t get much done except writing though. The interwebs were not cooperating with me.

Saturday we brined the turkey and took off for Colorado City. Shooting was fun. We blew up Diet Cokes that we had sitting around. As we got ready with glasses and ear protection, J. began freaking out. He lost his sunglasses. I only stopped laughing long enough to point out that they were on his face. While still giggling I bullseyed a can on the first shot. Go me.

We left with the intent to do more shooting on Sunday. When checked into the hotel we found out it had free wireless aptly named, “This connection is hackable”. Then we headed into Colorado City…which turned out not to have a downtown at all. We made it Rye before giving up. We had planned to go to Bishop’s Castle but decided we couldn’t make it there before sunset (closing time).

For dinner we hit Texas Roadhouse. That was good, though the waitress was dumbfounded when I ordered my sweet potato with only sour cream and butter. Luckily none of the chefs decided they heard wrong. The green beans tasted like squishy bacon. Trust me…that isn’t as good as it sounds.

We saw Transporter 3. Absolute crap. Which is too bad. We’re getting movies now that suffered from writer’s strike itis. Doesn’t bod well.

I finished the nylon bag knitting project. Realized that I had been doing the purl stitch wrong until the end. I’ve got purl down now. Who knew that you had to move the thread first? Stitch n’ Bitch set me straight. I also cast on that scarf staring with brown worsted wool. The humungo needles are fun. Still I don’t under stand how the SB girl holds the very large straight needles under her arm pit. She must have no boobs. And stumpy arms. No offense, I have stumpy arms and large boobs. Of course her humungo needles might be way bigger than mine. In fact that’s probably true as well.

I started reading Yarn Harlot’s Secret Life of Knitters. Great book, but that woman is way to OCD. How can you loose a pattern? And why stuff projects in weird ass places? I gets I am a project knitter not process. All weird.

We woke up Sunday to a fire alarm. Which went off right away, then on again and off again. Must have been faulty wiring because it was blizzarding out. So we checked out and hit the road as we had to be home by three. It took (normally 3 hours) 5 hours to get home. Good thing that alarm kept going off, despite the head ache.

We had a good last write in. I got out another 2000 words. M. made the finish line. After that we came home to the turkey just coming out of the oven and the dogs coming home clean. It was a nice night.

This morning it appeared that the basement flooded. After J. made move a ton of books and we realized it wasn’t coming from the walls. I grabbed a tissue and dabbed some up (should have done that first). Dog pee. Dagny dog pee every where. That means medication failure and another vet trip. I made J. vacuum it up. Good thing we still had M.’s steam vac. Thanks M.!

Now I need to get back DGA stuff. Everything is ready except some last minute back end stuff and those damned tickets. Very damned tickets. Blargh.