Chellisms

Christmas Overload

This one is for Monica. My one true Scrooge-y friend. When the holidays get tough I channel Monica, have a few shots of tequila and then all is well. Or my nose is numb and that makes everything better.

Just for the record I first typed my numb is nose and I have not had one drink in at least a week or more. Am lightweight.

Wait, we only have how many days until Christmas? 58.

Holy hell.

My mom and I kicked off the holiday hoopla with a trip to the something or other festival at the Catoma Tacoma Dome. It was an eye-opener. This picture is just half of the inside of the dome. I was a bit overwhelmed. My mother was in her element and I literally had to hold her back as she salivated over the crafty craft, um, stuff.

See for yourself.

 

I meant see the Dome. Not my mom salivating over Christmas crafts. Ew.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tim left this morning for a security conference in a much warmer climate. He was supposed to land in Las Vegas about 3 PM, it was supposed to be 87 degrees. I admit to being highly jealous as my ass is stuck here in the 50 degree rain and all around coldness.

He managed to pack all of his stuff in that blue suitcase at his feet. Had he not needed so many hair products he would have been able to carry it on. Oh, wait.

Doesn't he look excited?

I think he might have been annoyed with the photographer. Sometimes she just won't shut up.

And there he goes.

My dispersion bubble has left the building. 

You might want to take a step back. 

Spin Cycle

No, they aren't watching the clothes go round. They have their foreheads pressed to the door getting spin cycle headaches. For some reason this fascinates all three of them.

Sometimes they are so easy to please and sometimes I just don't get them. At all.

A-mazing!

Tim and I took the kids to get pumpkins yesterday. Ashley and Ethan followed us over there and we decided to explore the corn maze since we were there.

In we go...

Uh-oh, we got lost along the way. Better stop to read the map. Hey, who put the short guy in charge??

Here come the followers, getting attacked by 50-ft tall corn stalks. Ahhh! Run! Save yourselves!

Oh man, are we lost again? Are we missing a short blond person? Did we feed him to the corn gods?

Oh crap, they are leaving me behind! Drat, they found the blondie, I thought I hid him well. They must have heard his cries. Mommy, mommy, MOMMY!

And out we went. The Alien maze is 2 miles long, we didn't cover the entire two miles. How do I know this you might ask, easy, none of the kids started whining. Well, actually there are 2 mazes. One is 2.0 miles, the other is 2.3. We started with the shorter and never made it to the longer. Had Tim not been with us and been able to read a map we might still be there today. I can read a city map but an alien maze map mystifies me, mistake an eye socket for a elbow and you are screwed.

Oh, Ethan has one more picture for his Nana and Papa in NC. He wants to say hi, he kept waving with his map hand and covering his face. It was hilarious.

Ethan declared the experience A-mazing. I think some smartass might be rubbing off on him.

Tim declared carrying a 40-lb pumpkin to the Jeep, er, nevermind...

11 Years Later

I got an e-mail earlier this week that kind of threw me for a loop. It was from someone that I haven't spoken to in over 11 years. Someone who was once my best friend, all through junior high and high school we were inseparable. Coloring each others hair in my bathroom, marble counter tops clean up pretty well but I seem to remember a few holy shit I got red hair color on the counter moments. I also remember not asking our parents first but that is beside the point (sorry mom). Seeing Nada Surf somewhere in Riverside while sitting on a pool table and almost knocking a beer sponsored light from the ceiling, I was clumsy talented even then what can I say. Ditching school and going to the water park in Palm Springs. With my mom. Ha! So, we were lame ditchers. Or maybe smart ditchers. Dudes, her dad introduced me to Nutella, that alone should offer her family up for sainthood.

Somehow, during the summer after graduation, also the summer Tim and I got married, we lost touch. Now that isn't exactly right. We didn't lose touch. I was wrapped up in getting married at 18 (go ahead, say it with me... holy hell, what was she thinking? Eh, it works for us.) and her life kept moving. Things kept going on around me and I didn't notice. We didn't drift apart, we lost each other. I thought everything was fine until she wasn't at my wedding. But neither of us picked up the phone. We were both too hurt.

I have often wondered about her over the years and there are a couple of things that make me think of her. Looking back over 11 years my reasons for being hurt seem so petty. Looking back over 11 years I have realized how much I missed her.