Travelin' Light

Jacob on the ferris wheel upon ascent:


It's been quite a busy month around here; the boys and I managed to make it through mid-winter break without too much conflict. We had some fun at the Seattle Center, and we took our young friend Emma with us to visit the EMP (Experience Music Project)-the kids were not exactly enthralled but it was fun to get them out of the house and away from the tv, nonetheless. Here they are at the front of the monorail:


The end of the month will find me down in Austin, TX-to volunteer with the Obama campaign and get out the vote for their March 4th primary. I'll be staying with Chris & Pearly, who have graciously agreed to put me up for the week, and a BIG thank you must go out to my parents who not only financed the trip, but made it possible to leave my boys (big and small) at home as well. Props to Allen too, who I know would love to be able to come down with me, but must stay behind to earn the money that allows me to live this life of luxury I have become accustomed to. HA! No really, he has to work and help with the boys and although I know he's jealous he's not getting to go, he's also been really encouraging and happy for me to get the opportunity to do this. He's a hell of a guy, I tell ya.

I'm really looking forward to being a part of something truly larger than myself, and a phenomenon that I may never again experience in my lifetime. It should be a lot of fun, and I've promised to blog about it while I'm down there, as well as take tons of pictures.

I'll return March 5th and be looking forward to my m.i.l.'s arrival on the 6th, then it's Jacob's 9th YES 9th birthday on the 7th. It should be great fun for him to be able to celebrate his birthday with both grandma's!

Here's a cute shot of Austin wearing his coveted spongebob boxers and snow boots combo : )

Red States, Blue States

As many of you know I have always been politically involved; as far back as I can remember my mom dragged me to rallies, marches, protests, picket lines, etc. I would go with her to caucus and to vote. Back then they had a kids area at the polling station where I could vote too-for something like my favorite dessert, or kind of pizza. Reflecting on that now, I think that gave me a sense of being involved, and maybe an inevitability to vote as an adult. It never occurred to me that some people didn't vote. I was taught that it was not just my right, but my responsibility to participate in our democracy, and further, if I didn't I had no right to complain about the outcome.

Of course as a kid I didn't realize the significance of these lessons. Now that I have children I am eager to demonstrate to my boys how important it is to make your vote count and your voice heard. And that sometimes you have the opportunity to witness history in the making, even if you are not old enough to appreciate what you're seeing at the moment.

Which is why I had them play hooky from school Friday to attend a Barack Obama rally and listen to him speak. Regardless of whether he wins the nomination or even the presidency, I believe my boys will always remember that day. It was a truly amazing experience.

Obama spoke at Key Arena-where the Seattle Sonics basketball team play, and concerts are regularly held. There are just over 17,000 seats there, the Mayor allowed more than 18,000 people in, and had to turn away 3,000 people. It was electric, the crowd was pumped up and it was just as loud as any rock concert I've attended.

Obama was very eloquent, positive, and directly addressed many issues that his opponents on both sides of the aisle have brought up as a reason not to vote for him, especially his message of hope. He said he didn't believe that hope is defined as wishful or whimsical thinking, more that it is a mindset that you can make things better for the country, that we're not stuck in this inevitability of failure and futility. That we, as citizens can rise up and say we're not going to live in fear, that we're not willing to erode our personal rights and the constitution to protect ourselves from those who "hate us for our freedom" or some other Roveian bullshit we've been fed these past 7 years.

Rick says we are in the midst of a paradigm shift, and I see our nation's youth as a major factor. Finally someone is discussing issues that are relevant to them, who has a positive vision of their future. These potential voters are clinging to that one word-Hope. Hope that Obama will be their voice, a reason to be proud of their country, inspire them to give back to their communities, engender an enthusiasm for politics because they are seeing firsthand what being involved can do, and are confident they can do it again.

Saturday we took them to caucus; it was a crazy, crowded affair but it felt really good to be involved and to participate. I've never seen so many people at a caucus and when they asked everyone whether this was their first, I was amazed at how many people raised their hands (including my husband!). I took pride in being able to say I had done this before.

Photo Op

'Tis the time of year for school pictures; the boys will be having them taken tomorrow (Friday) and we should have them the following week. Please let me know if you would like one, they have all kinds of fun stuff this year with photo magnets, photo stickers as well as the standard portraits. I always wind up buying too much, but I hate to not have them if I need them.

We're gearing up for the Super Bowl this weekend, and my cousin Lauren turns 18 next week so we're going to her party on Saturday. It's hard to believe she's 18, I still remember her as my little flower girl who admonished me as I was walking down the aisle, "don't step on the rose petals!"
Embarrassing for her I'm sure, but it's still one of my fondest memories and I know I'll never forget it. She was only 3 when she first met Allen, she looked him over, turned to me and said, "so this is the guy you're gonna marry?"

That means Allen and I have been together for almost 15 years! Yowza!

Jacob will be turning 9 and I'm racking my brain to think of something for his birthday this year. Last year was pretty out of hand with his whole class of kids, especially since they're so much older and more rambunctious. I'm thinking of boys only (oh yeah, that'll be less rambunctious!) or maybe he can invite 9 kids. I feel bad thinking about doing that though, we have always had a huge party with the whole class at some cool location; golf range, indoor soccer, aquarium. It's always around tax time, so we can usually afford to do something a little over the top, but I just don't know if we can handle that may kids anymore. The weather's always iffy, so doing it at a park doesn't seem logical...hmmm
Thoughts, suggestions, recommendations?

Woah, heavy man!

It's almost time for our February caucus. It's been such an interesting election season so far; I feel like this is a historical time, we are at such a crossroads and I am on one hand eager to participate, and on the other hand scared that no matter who gets elected there will be no real change. In Washington we moved our caucus up to February 9th, and it looks like this year we may impact the outcome of the Democratic nomination. I don't have a clear favorite as I have in years past, and I find it fascinating that the Republicans appear to be in the fractured position the Democrats always seem to be; they used to have one issue to rally around; gay marriage, abortion etc. and this year they all seem to be divided along religious lines which is always a divisive issue. You have a Mormon, a Baptist Minister, and a "Moderate" (oh, and Saint Rudy of 9/11) and I have a hard time envisioning their followers rallying for anyone outside their belief system. It's amazing to me that religion allegedly brings people together, but historically more people have been killed over faith than any other issue. Heck, look at what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I read an article in Vanity Fair last month by Sebastian Unger who was embedded with a unit in Afghanistan and one of his larger observations was how divided Afghanistan is; village by village belief systems are so different. Each sect has their own dialect which makes it virtually impossible for troops to find translators, or to create allies. All of these sects are wrestling each other for control of key areas, Afghani opium production provides 93% of the world's supply, and we're in the middle, allegedly looking for Osama Bin Laden, while our President makes an arms sale to the Saudis who are busy exchanging weapons to the Afghans for opium and the Pakistanis are exchanging weapons for Afghan timber (!), all to get the Americans out so they can continue to fight each other for territorial control.

It's just insane that domestically we're talking about illegal immigration, tax rebates and whether Hillary Clinton gave LBJ more credit for the civil rights movement than Martin Luther King, Jr.
Now we're back to; "It's the economy, stupid" and nobody is saying that if we weren't spending trillions of dollars at war that maybe there would be a real solution to bail out these sub-prime mortgages that have contributed so heavily to our economic decline. Nobody will talk about the fanatical dictator we call our President and the fact that he started his own "holy war" and that in his case, God is oil, or at least oil is the Holy Grail.

And what are we going to do for these men and women when they finally come home, limbs blown off, suffering from post-traumatic-stress-disorder and we have spent all of our money overseas and have nothing left to provide medical care, psychiatric care, housing, jobs or anything else that they so deserve? The VA put out a statistic that we have 200,000 homeless vets living on our streets (from all wars, not just current). Bill O'Reilly had the balls to go on tv and laugh this statistic off, saying "show me a homeless veteran and I'll find him a place to sleep tonight, there are no homeless vets." It's just so cruel that someone can accuse others of "not supporting the troops" but when it comes right down to providing the necessities once these soldiers come home they are ignored, or put in sub-par VA hospitals with peeling walls and rat infested rooms. Not enough medicine, not enough doctors, not enough mental health professionals, no housing assistance, employment transition, what kind of fucked up priorities do we have that we lionize these men and women while they serve and treat them like garbage, or worse like O'Reilly, treat them as if they are invisible after they come home? Who is really supporting these troops?

I wish I had any answers, but it always seems like I have more questions than anything. I want to see the candidates talking about this issue, because once we do come to our senses and bring these brave soldiers home we are going to have an epidemic on our hands and we need a leader who can provide some answers, not just a sound bite for the 5:00 news. I don't know who can best address these issues at this point, I just know the Republicans have had 8 years to fuck this all up and unfortunately, our Democratic leaders in the House and Senate haven't shown the backbone to push these issues either. "Throw the bums out" was a rallying cry at one point and I think it applies once again. It's as if they are so beholden to special interests, on both sides of the aisle, that they are so insulated in their wealthy enclaves that rescuing the middle class, let alone the lower class is beyond their scope of capabilities. I know there is so much fear of a "socialist" government that we are overlooking the fact that the top 3% control so much that we are more an oligarchical society than anything. Really, which is worse?

Blurg

Ok, so I stole that from Tina Fey on 30 Rock but that's my word of the week and it sums up how I've been feeling lately. I haven't even had the energy to write my blog, let alone think I had anything "worthy" to say. I don't know if I'm just vitamin deprived, getting off the pain meds or what, but I feel so lethargic this week. I called the doctor about it and she told me that I had major surgery through minor incisions and that I should still be "pampering myself". I don't know that lazing around in bed and watching tv all day constitutes pampering but it's all I can do to get the kids out the door in the morning.
I feel bad bitching about it, considering if I were in a position where I HAD to work that I would definitely be back to work by now and there are so many out there who don't have the luxury of lazing around in bed, eating bon bon's and watching soaps : ) All right, maybe I'm exaggerating just a bit, but I am getting tired of being winded from walking halfway up the steps, and I'm not THAT fat!
I don't understand how I was feeling better last week than this week. Ok, the percocet probably had a lot to do with my feeling good, and having the narcotic withdrawl headache all this week hasn't helped either.
Kids are good, Austin had a horrible case of hives last week. We're not sure if it was from food or environment, but I changed just about everything he was eating and switched laundry soap too, so after 4 days of him having unbelievable welts all over his body he's finally stopped itching! He was a sight to behold though...he had no fewer than 100 welts all over his body, literally from head to toe and he was MISERABLE. Glad for that to be over.
Wah wah wah, time to stop bitching and go be a mom...

Slayed

Oh my how easy it is for an innocent child to destroy you! Austin looked up at me tonight and said, "mom, why are you so fat?".
Ugh, dagger through the heart.
Then to pile it on, Jacob says, "yeah mom, you look pregnant, you're not pregnant are you?"
Aaack!

Tonight I started exercising again... : )

Update

Just wanted to say that I am recovering well; not quite up to snuff but certainly on the mend. My belly looks disgusting; I have this ugly purple bruise-she went straight through my belly button and my tummy is all swollen. I'm almost off the pain meds, which should make my doctor happy. I went to see her on Thursday to make sure I was healing since I was still having so much pain and not sleeping. She doled out muscle relaxers and reluctantly gave me more Percocet which she said she really didn't want to give me-but did...

I felt well enough to do a little shopping over the weekend. I got to pick up my new wedding ring, which is just gorgeous. Allen drove me downtown to buy me some new pants-depressing to buy maternity pants and not be pregnant! Everything I have has a tight waistband and I just can't have any pressure on my belly at this point. I had been living in Allen's sweatpants, so I found some maternity jeans that were on sale so I could at least be comfortable and presentable. They were super cheap so I didn't feel too bad about spending the money, more just self conscious about being so big now. I've never weighed so much before, so I'm hoping after I get better I can start a rigorous workout routine so I'll be bikini ready when we go to Mexico this spring.

I also did some baby clothes shopping for Baby Girl Gottschlich-my friends Tracy & Adam found out last week that they are having a girl. I'm so excited to be able to shop for a baby girl! I've never gotten to shop for girl baby clothes before and oh my god do they have some cute stuff. I am so excited for them, and I'm glad they are having a girl-I think they will both dote on her and I can totally see her being a "daddy's girl". Her brother and his girlfriend just had a baby boy, so it will be nice for their mom to have one of each. I know none of my 3 brothers will have kids, and I know my mom wishes she had a little granddaughter. She loves my boys so much, but I know it's not the same.

I've added a picture of our latest wild kingdom adventure-one of our kitties ran away about a month ago and we've been leaving food on the porch hoping he'll come back around. The other night our other two cats were freaking out at the front door and we were sure Harpo kitty was on the porch, so imagine my surprise when I opened the door and there was a gigantic raccoon eating out of the dish! He looked up at me, put out his paw and pulled the dish of food toward his body and kept right on eating. Little devil : )

Oh, and Happy New Year!

Can't type anymore but I wanted to attach this great newspaper clipping found in this last week Seattle Times NW life section; where they do a "rant and "rave" segment which I don't generally read because I feel like there's enough bitching in my own life, I don't need to hear someone else's complaints too! This was a rave though, and for those of you who don't know both Jacob & Austin attend The Lake and Park School located on the top floor of the Mt. Baker Presbyterian Church.


Bravo indeed!

T

Back Home

So here I am in my bed; propped up on all sides with pillows, an ice pack on my belly, a heating pad on my back and finding it almost impossible to write! It's as if I'm in a remedial typing class as I've so far had to re-write almost every word. Apparently I am not operating on all four cylinders yet and it's too frustrating to write, since I have so much to say. I'll save the bulk of it for later, but want to say now thank you to everyone who has been so supportive.
I got to come home around noon yesterday and had a surprising about of zip but with the meds I am finding it almost impossible to spell and focus on the screen, so I will close for now with the message to you all that it went very well, very quickly and she only had to perform the minimal amount she had hoped.
Oh, and of course I got some lovely souvenir photographs-bummer my cards have already been mailed, maybe next year I can send some revolting picture of what endometriosis looks like! Mmm
Why do doctors think you want that crap? People like my sick dad, who watched his knee surgery. Sicko!

Ok, officially too frustrating now, more later, promise.

T

Jitterbug

I keep telling myself I'm not scared, but as surgery looms I find myself more and more nervous. It's nerve wracking more than anything. I've gotten everything in order in anticipation of coming home, got my spare room cleaned up, stocked up on magazines and made sure I have all of the comforts I'll want and not have to seek out. I packed a bag just in case I have to spend the night in the hospital; if I prepare to have to stay overnight I'll get to go home that day. I got my prescriptions; Percocet so at least I'll have good drugs when I come home. I took my new wedding ring in to get sized on Friday-I hate being without it, but I can't wear it to the hospital anyway and I'll be happy to have it back next week. It's a little something to look forward to.

I can't have solid food after 6am today-I got up at 5:30 this morning to eat so I didn't go 36 hours without food. My sweet mom made me jello, which counts as a clear liquid and I can have coffee with no cream. After midnight I'm not allowed to have anything by mouth, except for a Valium which I will be taking before heading to the hospital. I'll get up at 5 tomorrow to be at the hospital by 6.

Our TV in the spare room broke the other night, so we have the little 19 inch we kept in the kids' room to watch video's which seems SO SMALL! That wasn't exactly the greatest timing-we can't afford to buy a new one, especially one that Allen wants to have. Allen took it over to the repair shop and paid $45 bucks to determine whether it's worth fixing. At least I got the spare TV to work, it would have been brutal to have to convalesce without a TV (yeah, I'm spoiled!)

At the moment I'm watching the Seahawks try to piss away their last regular season game-yelling at the tiny TV screen is great distraction!

I got all of my thank you cards ready to send out; I am really impressed with how they turned out. I made collage photos of the gifts the kids received, as well as a few family pictures. They turned out so well. It seems so rare that you have an idea of how something is going to turn out and it exceeds your expectations! You crafty girls will know what I'm talking about.
Not only did it turn out how I had hoped, it was as easy as I hoped, which NEVER seems to happen! Maybe the Gods thought it was my turn after having so much shitty luck lately : )
I sent collage cards to others too, mostly people that had sent holiday cards and I never reciprocated. At least I got something out by New Year's, right?

Wish me luck everyone, we'll see how long it takes for me to feel like updating my post, but my goal is to let everyone know how it went a day or two after I get home. The doc seems to think that I should only have a few days of recovery, that although I'll have some pain from the stitches, my major pain should be over with the removal of the cysts. The only variable is if they get in there and have to do more than expected. If that's the case I'll get even better drugs anyway so I'm not too worried about that!

Happy New Year everyone-here's to no surgeries in 2008!