September 9, 2012

6 + 4 = FREEDOM

Today I witnessed true freedom in life. My son and I were in his bedroom discussing his lack of motivation in keeping his personal area clean and organized, I know its a ridiculous and pointless thing to request of a preteen boy but I gave it a shot. Anyway as I was saying, I was pleading with my son to care about himself enough not to live like a slob when I reminded him of his needing to use deodorant daily.

He of course rolled his eyes at me which in preteen language translates to yes mom, when he took the deodorant and swiped under his left arm 6 times and his right arm 4 times. Yes I counted, I sat there staring at him incredulously!! Immediately I wanted to start digging my nails into my scalp like I'd heard some god awful sound like nails on a chackboard or a fork scrapping a plate. I could see on his face how confused he was by my facial expression but I was shocked by his actions!!I mean 6 and 4...really?!?!

How could he possibly function properly with his armpits uneven like that? If I did that it would bug me all day. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on anything else in life but my unbalanced armpits!! I calmly asked him if he knew he had swiped the deodorant more on one side than the other? He looked straight into my eyes and said "No, I just put it on." it was then that the room started spinning. He just puts it on willy nilly, no thought of equal application, just swipe it and forget it.

I couldn't understand, couldn't comprehend the kind of freedom in life he posses. To not control every little detail of your life, to just give yourself over to life like, what that must be like? Now of course I wouldn't want him to be as hyper aware about those kinds of details as I am but still 6 and 4!!

I would have had to make it even 6 and 6 then I would have added 2 more on each side to make sure I completely countered the unevenness. Know this, when I say even I don't mean numbers. I'm speaking of equal amounts to each side. I don't really have a numbers issue, well not really. I do do things in 3's like 3 squirts of soap or 3 packets of ketchup. Okay never mind thinking things out I do have a number issue but its not projected on others. If you put 1 or 2 squirts of soap on your hands it has no affect on me.


Well maybe if your my kid or husband I project on you? Anyway point of the story is my son lives in freedom and I'm happy about that. In case you are wondering he did swipe his armpits evenly but not because I told him to or asked him to but because he thought it was funny I counted and noticed... honest.





May 15, 2012

WINNER!!!

Guess who won at last nights Bunco game?...ME!!!! WHOO HOO!!! So as you can imagine I had fun.

It really was a great time. Lots of laughter, great food, and Bunco's. I was fortunate to carpool with Heather last night but unfortunately Karen couldn't join us. However having Heather carpool with me did make me feel more confident and comfortable in going to our evenings hostess home.

I think I've found a real girlfriend in Heather. I love her sense of humor. Actually all the women last night were great.

I believe I will be hosting the next Bunco night. I'm going to really put myself out there with these ladies. I am not naive, I accept and understand that I myself might/could have in my socially awkward state gave a standoffish impression to these ladies.

I also understand that they might not have wanted to invest time in me because I was coming as a sub and they might not see me again for quite some time. Still, I think all invited guest should be made to feel welcome but that's just me.

Either way I'm confident this was just a silly little bump in the road. I'm grateful for the invite to be a permanent member and the opportunity to do something fun just for me. Something I have never had before.

Who knows maybe these ladies will also be my book club girls and maybe if I beg a knitting/crochet group!! *swoon*

A girl can dream...a girl can dream...but for now they are just the Bunco girls.

May 14, 2012

Be Brave!!

So tonight is Bunco night and I'm having anxiety about going and because I have anxiety I'm cleaning. (its a control thing)

My friend Christina will not be attending tonight Bunco game so it's just me with a group of ladies I vaguely know.

I hate these kind of social gatherings. The go ahead and go without me gatherings. The I know you've only meet these people twice prior but go have fun type of gatherings. They are so completely out of my comfort zone.

I need to mention that the Bunco group did indeed invite me to be a permanent member however I believe I did not have everyone vote. *snarky girls*

So I'm going to be brave and repress my social awkwardness and go play Bunco with my new soon to be best friends ever!!

More importantly I'm going to try and win tonight's jackpot. The competitor in me wants to be the evenings Bunco champion something fierce. I wanna scream WHOO HOO BUNCO!!!

May 6, 2012

Not a Girlie Girl but I'm NOT a Boy!!

WARNING: THIS POST IS A RANT

Today I had about 15 minutes to get ready for church. I had been up since 7:30AM keeping my older boys quiet so my husband could sleep in along with our five year old son.

When they did wake up (an hour later) my hubby made a yummy breakfast for us and then it was upstairs for showers. As I was the last to get into the shower as I always am I was left with a fifteen minute window to get ready myself, give or take.

It was at this moment my irritation began. I am the only girl in the house and I hardly if ever have the opportunity to get myself ready properly.

I would love to just ONCE go to church with DRY and styled hair. As tied back in a scrunchy does not count as styled in any woman's book. With my makeup done and a nice outfit on, that would be fabulous.

My irritation over the situation grew as I sat next to my husband in church (second row center) with his perfectly not a hair out of place styled hair. My hair naturally drying into a frizzy wildly curled rats nest.

As my nest dried I couldn't help but notice all the women around me with their hair, nails, makeup, and outfit all put together perfectly. I wondered how do they do it? How do they make the people in their lives wait for them?

I'm a girl not a boy!! I want to look like a girl. I want to feel good about myself when I go out. I make sure all my boys look presentable while I go out looking like a frumpy mess!!

People often say to me "Oh your the only girl in the house you must be treated like a queen by all these boys!" HA!!

I'm treated like the cook, driver, personal assistant, calculator, maid, nurse, human napkin, human tissue, mommy, and confidant. But a QUEEN?!?!?

I don't want to be mean about it. I don't want to be rude about it. I just want these boys to remember I'm not a boy.

April 15, 2012

Lots of Laughs

Last nights dinner with the family was AMAZING!! I've never laughed so hard in my life. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life and to be able to claim them as family is priceless.

Having my brother and sister in law with us made our big family feel complete again. We all miss them so much and to have them here is so special. I know having us all together was really the best part of my mother in laws birthday.

The food at the restaurant was delicious but what were we thinking ordering all that food. We celebrated my mother in laws birthday at Boca Di Beppo.

The poor dishwasher for the evening, he earned his paycheck last night with the amount of dishes he had to clean on our table alone.

After dinner the party and the laughter continue at my in laws home. Sorry the picture is so blurry that's what happens when you can't stop laughing.

What a fun night I can't wait for the next birthday party!!

April 14, 2012

SURPRISE!!

Today is my mother in laws birthday and to celebrate we (adults only, no kids allowed) are going out for a family dinner. The best part of tonight will be that my brother and sister in law will be here from Washington state. It was going to be a surprise for my mother in law but because we recently had family members suffering serious health issues the surprise was foiled. I had no idea they were coming until my mother in law told us they'd be staying for a week and that the restaurant reservation had been changed so it was still a surprise to me. That would have been an interesting evening, showing up to the wrong restaurant in the wrong city!!

I can't wait to see my brother and sister in law I haven't seen them since their wedding in September. My boys are sad that they can't attend Grandma's birthday dinner. They don't understand why it is adults only. They remind me that they behave properly in restaurants and don't eat that much. My oldest who is a 30 year old trapped in a 12 year old body really can't understand why he's not invited. He like most 12 year old does not see himself as a child. It's especially hard for him to see himself that way when his younger brothers are 5 and 8.

The boys are also eager to attend Grandma's birthday party because they haven't seen their auntie and uncle since before we left Washington. Their wedding was a "kid free" event also. Luckily for them we will be having a BBQ this week to celebrate Grandma's birthday and auntie and uncles arrival.

April 12, 2012

SO OLD!!

Rainy gloomy days expected for the next couple of days here. As you can imagine I'm ecstatic about it.

I've recently fallen in love with my iPad again thanks to the iOS upgrade. I really wish *Blogger* had an iPad app. I use the iPhone app on my iPad but have to enlarge the text and can see the pixels.

Silly thing to complain about I know but it really does bug me. You know what is not silly to complain about? Me having to buy a super cute pink iPad case on *Amazon*.

What's wrong with buying on *Amazon* you ask? Well I'll tell you what's wrong, because Apple released the iPad ,iPad2 & iPad3 so quickly, one after the other, stores no longer carry iPad cases. I have to purchase my case online and I hate having to wait. I'm more of an instant gratification kind of girl.

Which brings me to another bee in my bonnet! I hate when I do go into the retail stores to try and buy an accessory such as an iPad invisashield and the sales people say "Oh you have just the regular iPad?"

I had no idea a 2 year old iPad was now considered such a dinosaur?!? I got my iPad on sale (phenomenal price) because the store needed to make room for iPad2's.

Then the brilliant minds at Apple decide to release iPad3 one year later. So now I have to shop online for the accessories to my old relic the iPad. In the early morning hours watching bad infomercials crying into my Pepsi.

Speaking of infomercials how awesome is that Forever Lazy?!?! 😉

*Correction my iPad is 1 year old.*


April 11, 2012

RAIN!!


(Our house in Washington)


(View from the master bedroom of Mt. Rainier)

I woke up this morning to the sound of the pouring rain and it put a huge smile on my face. I have been missing Washington lately and looking through photos of our time there. I the miss the ferry rides and the excitement we all felt pulling out of port. I miss Gig Harbor and the great museums and Pirate Days.

Driving the family into Seattle to explore all the city has to offer. I miss my cute house in Black Diamond and the boys school. I miss my friends, neighbors, and Good Will. I miss the gloomy skies, the brilliant colors of spring, the rain, and the trees the beautiful vast and expansive forest. I miss looking out my bedroom window and gazing on Mt. Rainier. What a great time, what a great place.

I love the rain.


(A Seattle neighborhood park)


(Us sight seeings)

April 10, 2012

New Name

So I changed my blog name, even though I love the mental image of Butterflies in Mason Jars it really had nothing to do with my life as I share it on my blog.

Now my blog title is A Simple Kind of Dream. Which is very close to my original stolen from me name Simple Kind of Life.

I think A Simple Kind of Dream is a much better name for my blog and completely captures my view of my life. What I wanted is what I received, my simple kind of dream.

LET'S ROLL



So I was recently invited by my friend Christina to play a little game known as BUNCO. She invited me last month to be a substitute player as you need 12 ladies to play this game. I had a wonderful time learning the game, which I had never played. Meeting new people and getting out of the house.

Yesterday I was surprised to hear from Christina that they needed subs *that's BUNCO ladies slang for substitute* for tonight's game and if I was interested in joining them? I was more than eager to join them as the past 2 weeks of the boys Spring Break left no personal time for myself.

Now the first time I played BUNCO with this group was the previous month as I stated before. There were 2 ladies who didn't seem to warm up to either myself or another sub named Karen. When asked by the other ladies of the group if we, Karen and I, would be interested in being permanent members instead of subs both these ladies spoke up and reminded the other women of the group that they needed to first check with the absent women to see if they were truly no longer interested in playing BUNCO and being permanent members. Fair enough but let me point out that these women Karen and I were subbing for had missed several monthly games in a row.

So at last night BUNCO game I found myself subbing with Karen again. Whom may I mention I adore right off the bat. She is a naturally warm person who is friendly to everyone. She has this wonderful life motto maybe you've heard of it? Treat people as you would like to be treated. I'm telling you Karen is brilliant!!

Back to the story.

We also had I think 2 more subs but most defiantly 1. Now at the beginning of the evening the ladies of the group were discussing a member who again had not shown up for the evenings game. They had made phone calls and sent emails and were finally able to reach her. They had briefly discussed her interest in the group but were not completely clear if she was no longer playing with the group. I thought it was obvious she wasn't playing anymore when she stated it was "just something she couldn't put her time into" but since she didn't say "I'm out of the group" or "I'm not playing anymore" they decided they needed to ask her again.

So the game is over they are trying to calculating who has won the big money prize when snarky women #1 announce to the ladies after my and Karen's names are once again offered by the other ladies as permanents and/or subs that "You guys don't need to just invite your friends we have subs on the list that should be called first you guys." I looked at Karen and said "OUCH! oh that's nice."

Then snarky#1 says that they need to talk to the absent ladies and double check if they in fact are no longer a part of the group. Snarky#2 says to snarky#1 that the sub they clearly had a preference for wanted to be permanent group member and they added her! Now next months game is being hosted by the new member in her home.

Now they did take our information once more, if it made it in the BUNCO folder who knows. These women clearly have some kind of aversion to me and clearly take their BUNCO game and possible club members responsibilities very seriously.

I hope you find this post as funny as I do. Who knew BUNCO was so serious?!?!
FACT: If you don't play BUNCO you have no housewife street cred.

March 27, 2012

Book List



I must be in a purging mood today. It has been so long since I have been able to write I forgot how good it makes me feel inside and out. My darling Honey is away on business and I desperately miss him already. I doubt he has even made it out of California yet.Nothing seems fun if he's not around, unless my sister is around. However she has been working a lot and I don't see her much anymore.

I have been occupying my time with books,of course.Some people have a Bucket List, I have a Book List. So far this year I have read...

1) Pride & Prejudice
2) Wuthering Heights
3) Dismantled
4) The Incredible Short Life of Bree Tanner
5) Twilight *again*

Still on my book list for the year

1) Jane Eyre
2) To Kill a Mockingbird
3) Delirium
4) Becoming Marie Antoinette
5) if i stay
6) Bad Girls Don't Die
7) Holy Bible

and last but not least The Soldiers Wife. I can't wait to finish my list to read some of these books again!

DISLIKE

I do not like the new blogger updated interface. I really hope they will not force us to use it by automatically updating it at a later time.

BORING!!

So thus far life in California has been very boring. I am reminded on a daily basis why I wanted to leave California for Washington in the first place. Everything is expensive here. It feels like no matter how hard you try you can't get ahead. The schools are without money, more budget cuts are being made to schools to save California from bankruptcy.

Our neighborhood has basically no children in it. So my boys are back to only having each other to socialize with which means lots of squabbles. We are closer (same city if not 30min away) to our extended family, yet we had more interaction with them in Washington then we do now. *Lovely*

Three awesome things about California
1) My hubby lives with us, YAY! We were living in separate states while we were relocating which totally sucked!! He's the best part of everyday and to say I missed him cannot convey the depth of the longing I felt to be near him.

2)Our beautiful home church is right down the road. I LOVE my church!

3)My hubby is happiest here.Next year things will improve I'm sure. My oldest will be in orchestra, my middle son will be in sports (fingers crossed) and my youngest will be in school and have his own friends again.

All things I want for them, I pray for them. Also we own this home so I think they, my boys, feel more secure here which gives my heart peace.

P.S
I know things are expensive EVERYWHERE but seem more so here.

One Last Wish

When I die leave my ashes in the eternal snow of Mt. Rainier.

Let me float on the mist of Snoqualmie Falls.

Scatter me in the forest so I may creep up the trees like moss.

Leave me on the shores of Whibley Island, to dance along the seashells and fallen trees.

Take me to Flaming Geyser, set me free on the gentle breeze so I may roam in the meadow.

Take me to Washington, the only place I ever wanted to be. The only place my soul felt free.

January 30, 2012

NOT COOL BLOGGER!!

So this post finds me incredibly bitter!! I can hardly stand to type this post. I by accident discovered that my blogs title name is no longer my own. My blogs title/name was once Simple Kind of Life but now it belongs to someone else. I had like I stated earlier no idea until I decided to show my friend my blog from her computer. Imagine my surprise when I am directed to this other persons blog!!
I have told people for years my blog name, have it in my social media profiles as my own, all the while I am directing traffic to someone else's blog!!
What is equally upsetting is that her blog speaks of sexual encounters. Oh the embarrassment in people believing I am the author of this blog.
I was so horrified by the discovery of no longer owning the name Simple Kind of Life that I hurried to think of a new name to register to my blog.
The only thing I could think of was Butterflies in Mason Jars. What on earth that has to do with my life I am certain I don't know.
Blogger was of no help to me to recover my name so Butterflies in Mason Jars it is... For now.

January 9, 2012

Oh Well...

My children have me in tears today. They have been on vacation from school for 3 weeks. What has me in tears is the frustration of asking/telling these kids to clean up their rooms or any other minuet chore. Honestly I don't ask them to do very much. They say "yes mom" and don't do it. I continue to ask until I am enraged by them ignoring what I've continually asked them to do.
I don't want to be the angry mom all the time. They do something as simple a brushing their teeth and then either sit down to watch television like I've completed everything you've asked or ask to play video games.
I say did you brush your hair? Did you make your bed? Did you put your clothes in the dirty laundry? The answer is always the same NO!
When do children start to think for themselves? My kids can remember the routine at school but not at home?
I want to be so badly one of those oh we'll mothers.
Kids rooms a mess, oh well.
Playrooms a mess, oh well.
Dishes are stacked to the ceiling, oh well.
House isn't vacuumed, oh well.
I just want a little help around here not only from my kids but my husband but all I seem to get is oh well.