Ahhhh, Memorial Day weekend is nearing. Yes, I have to do a full day of school tomorrow, but Tim is off as of NOW, so even if we all are not "on vacation" one of us is, and that is something!

Tomorrow we are headed, as usual, to camp, for the "drink enough that you don't care where you sleep" weekend of 30 some odd people in a double wide trailer. (or on their own private island, depending on how you think about it, and again, directly proportional to how much you have to drink.) The kids and I have to go "to work" tomorrow, and that leaves Tim the fun of the final grocery shopping and the final packing. I really don't envy him the job. Quite frankly, I would rather work. I love to get away. Travel is one of my deepest passions, but to PREP to travel gives me hives.

Tonight, we are doing laundry, so as to pack, and to be prepped for going back to work on Tuesday, completely sleep deprived, and possibly a little hung over. Tim, my wonderful husband, knowing he has tomorrow off, and must make restitution, got it started before I came home. That being said, I have to give him a shout out. We play a game here at the Howell Household called "Dryer/No Dryer." This game originated due to the sharing of laundry tasks, random shrinking garments, and rage filled diatribes of who did what when, where and why. Now, when clothes are being transferred, from washer to dryer, items in question are deemed dryer worthy by the wearer only. If the wearer is not present, the clothes go on the drying rack. That's just the way it is. Even the kids have been trained to this, and I have to tell ya, it does work! Just now, though, I realized that Tim has unlocked another rule of laundry fully on his own, or perhaps because he has had to hear me bitch and complain enough. He put JUST the right items into the lingerie bags! And I do not JUST bag lingerie. I also bag certain dress tops of mine, items with embellishments, and random other things, just because. Somehow, tapping into his wonderhusband powers, he knew enough to "bag" a rather nondescript, and also fairly new, top of mine! He also made some margaritas!

If that is not true love, I do not know what is!
Let the summer vacation season begin!

You know, I love a cute little anecdote or phrase as much as anyone. I am all about the "Quote a Day" calendar. Have one hanging by my desk at work even. But you know what phrase I simply do not understand? "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." Seriously? Did someone who cannot cook initially say this? Maybe it was someone with damaged taste buds?

But still, even if you, personally, can't cook, what about dishes prepared by others? What about comfort food? Mom's home cooking? Has the person who said this never been to an exquisite restaurant? Never tasted butterfly fries or cotton candy at a street fair? Never gone wine tasting?

Tonight, I practiced restraint, since I am committed to Weight Watchers points for the next couple of months. But let me tell you, Farfalle with Salmon, Peas and Garlic Creme sauce tastes pretty damn great. Even tastes better when paired with fresh baked Italian bread from Ontario Orchards and a Treleaven Reserve Chardonnay. Lots of things taste way better than starving to me, and I am glad I can recognize that balance. I am also glad I have a hubby who is right at the same balance with me.

A revised anecdote, perhaps?
"Sometimes it feels good to be fat and happy, together!"
And you can quote me on that!

You can't do much more to improve a dreary Monday than end it with a fabulous girl's night out! I met Nancy, Jeanne and Kathy for dinner tonight, and 2 and a half hours later I was a new woman! The easy conversation between best friends is such a gift, and I was feeling like the luckiest girl in the world as I drove home. I have the best friends ever!

We did make one particularly interesting observation tonight amongst us...the "Turnin' 40" crew. I am already "in" the club, Nancy will be initiated in about two weeks, and as much as Kathy and Jeanne like to taunt that they will be the last to go, in the fall, rest assured, 40 will come for them too! That is our order...Me, then Nancy, then Jeanne and finally Kathy. Oldest to youngest. And tonight, while comparing technology at one point, (basically we had to hear how much Kathy is just IN LOVE with her freaking iPad...whatever!) we realized that our cell phones run the gamut, correlating with our ages, from dinosaur to smartphone. I, the dinosaur, have the dinosaur Tracfone that doesn't even take crappy pictures! Nancy is a step up, with her classy "plastic on the furniture" model flip phone. Jeanne has the slide out texting keyboard type phone, and it's even BLUE! Kathy, the babe, has the smartphone! Someone in the group has to keep us young and hip, and Kath, I never woulda thought, but I guess it's you!

So here's to girlfriends, and to girls night out, and to getting older, one at a time, and together.
I can't think of any better way to do it!
Cheers!

(Oh, and Shannon, we need a consult on your phone! You are the final piece of the puzzle! Does our very official study hold water?)

"You may see time as passing by, and not understand that time never arrives. There is only this moment." -Dogen

It has come to me quoting myself, or at least copying and posting quotes that I used, previously, on some sort of blog or another, over the past several years! Then again, I caught some of Oprah's FINAL weight loss show today, and while I had recollections of the things she was showing, I hadn't remembered it all. How could anyone possibly remember everything Oprah has ever done? I am sure she watches old shows and is amazed by what she has said! I will assume by forgetting I had ever posted that quote, and finding it anew today, that I am in good company. Or I am just getting old.

Still, to reflect on moments, I just had one, in the kitchen, where so many moments happen in our house. The other place, the car, but that is an entirely different dynamic, the moving forward, together, but not looking at eachother thing. Whooooo...that is fodder for a WHOLE other blog entry! Anyways, as we watched 25 years of Oprah and her weight loss, Dr. Oz appeared, and professed that for every 35 pounds a man loses he gains an inch in penis size. Now mind you, Gwynn wasn't home, but Tim, Devin and I all cracked up! Then we got in a big silly conversation where I was saying I will NEVER understand boys fixations with their penises, and Tim and Devin kept telling me all the perfectly valid reasons it will forever be so.

I became a mom 13 some odd years ago, and never did I think ahead to the moment I would be laughing about penises with my son. Still, in the best of circumstances, that is how it happens. A funny anecdote while cooking dinner leads to the conversations that bond your family. The magic of family happens...not in the big events but in the small moments. OR you just realize, you are all in the crazy boat TOGETHER!

Who starts Weight Watchers points the day before Mother's Day? Tell me?

Yesterday was a wonderful day! I was treated to breakfast in bed, then had margaritas with mom, and my daughter made key lime pie for dessert! Who could, or would, resist that? Today, there were leftovers of everything, well, except the margaritas 'cause we finished those off:), for dinner. I am down to 10 "extra" points for the week, already, after THREE DAYS!

Watch! I am going to be eating a strict vegetable diet by tomorrow night. AARGH! What was I THINKING?

Oh well, keep at it, I know! Plus I am putting it out here, which, perhaps, will keep me honest? Who knows. But I guess I picked the wrong week to start Weight Watchers. Kinda like Lloyd Bridges in "Airplane!"

"Guess I picked the wrong week to ____________________."
a. stop smokin'
b. stop drinkin'
c. stop amphetamines
d. stop sniffin' glue.

(can you tell I have also had it up to here with State testing?)

Had a revelation tonight about finishing.

I hate to FINISH. I am the queen of the project begun. I have all kinds of interests. I can see a picture, hear a song, read an article, and suddenly, I have a new thing I am passionate about. Just ask Tim about Aztec Indian art. Still, where does this problem, if it is even a problem, come from?

Dinner, this evening, was some really yummy spaghetti, and sauce, that simply called out for Thursday night wine. We had a glass, had some food, had some family conversation, and had another glass. Soon enough, the bottle was done. I upended it to get the last drops, sat it down, and a few minutes later was able to upend and, wonder of all wonders, get more last bits. I was, in my less than scientific brain, amazed that something I had seen as empty suddenly gave more. Tim and Devin, on the other hand, wanted to talk to me about molecules, and properties, and SCIENCE!

We ended the moment agreeing to disagree, but Tim did point out, that wine, it seems, is the one thing I am GOOD at finishing.
I suppose, tonight, I must admit that he is right, but boy oh boy, does this point to a topic worth examining!

So, I am not blogging every day, but feel like today is a notable day to blog.

I type something now that I would bet the vast majority of Americans wish they could've typed 10 years ago. Osama Bin Laden is dead. Kind of a "journal-y" kind of entry, really. Like my great grandmother's journals...rainy today, made a roast beef, Jim graduated...just stating a fact. A very good fact. A fact that does not bring me joy, per say, but that brings me some sort of peace, or satisfaction, or, some emotion I can't quite place.

That said, I will, instead, borrow from a wordsmith more experienced than I will ever be.

‎"I've never wished a man dead, but I've read some obituaries with great pleasure."
-Mark Twain

...and since there are no rules this time around, no structures to absolutly have to write each and every day, I am going to be CRAZY here and do a second entry on my very first day!

I finished a book this weekend and feel like I am back in a reading groove, which is wonderful. This book, a gift from Scott for my b-day, was quite good, and had a beautiful quote I want to remember.

"Isabelle quietly helped Sam with his photography. "Look inside," she'd say to him, "Go deeper. See what's right there in a new way. Find the magic of the real moment."

Some days I feel like all my life is filled with is real moments. Of late, these have been as varied as school stress, oral surgery, flooded garages, carpenter ants and car repairs. But even in this crazy life we lead, I can choose to see the moments in a new way. There is beauty in sun shining through the seemingly ever present clouds. There is constant noise in my house, or, perhaps it is the auspicious event of Devin and Gwynn, in a tenuous way, getting along and playing a game. It is another Sunday night, with Monday looming, or it is my son kissing me goodnight, and my daughter sharing a beautiful collage she has created on her bedroom door.

Things are a mess sometimes, but this beautiful mess, these real moments, they are my life. My magical life. And I wouldn't trade any of them. Well, maybe the ants.

And so it begins. I knew I couldn't stay away from blogging for too long. It has been a nice two month vacation. Isn't it funny, that is the same length of "vacation" I get away from school each year? Summers off give my brain down time from the past year, and visionary time towards the new year. I feel like I have had the same rest from here,from blogging, and I am ready to start again...to start anew...to start writing my forties.