Life's been good to me so far

We're back from Boca Raton (since late Thursday night). It was pretty good. The kids and I glutted ourselves on delicious and very pimped out free breakfast every morning and went swimming every day. I felt I was friends with the omelette and pancake chef guy by the time we left (laughter and tips each morning...he cooks better than I do).

The noodle fish in it's native habitat.
The first day at the pool I got to be the mom of the four year old girl running around the deck with a pool noodle between her legs telling everyone to look at her giant penis. *headdesk*

I drank rum every night (free bar, and kiddie drinks and snacks, every night from 5:30-7:30). I took them to the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center one afternoon - it was totally worth it as a FREE trip that involved seeing injured and rehabilitating sea turtles up close, their amazing butterfly garden, lots of (outdoor!) aquariums full of great exotic things like urchins, starfish, sea horses, etc, and climbing to the top of their 40 foot observation tower that sways in the breeze...but it also turned awful because it was a 100 degree day and we didn't realize the reeeeallly loooong boardwalk was ONE WAY...until we got to the end of it. Everyone was bright red from near heat stroke and long past done by the time we got out of there (nevermind that we'd guzzled probably a gallon of water combined and poured that much on our heads, as well).

A and A went by themselves to see the extended version of The Lord of the Rings (1, 2 and 3 are upcoming, this is around the country) in theater. Neither Grant nor I wanted to spend our one evening together in a FOUR HOUR LONG MOVIE we've already seen. They came out FLIPPING THE HELL OUT about the EPICNESS of it so large, loud and surround-sound. G and I were actually able to lock the bedroom door and make some private adult time happen while they were gone, and the three littles watched Noggin. Other than that evening he was doing team building and social activities with/for the company, eating dinner with them, etc.

I managed to get three social studies quizzes taken (well) online and do/email my 3 page paper for SLS, and I got a callback on the first Craigslist job I sent a resume in for, while we were there :) I also got all my studying and homework for algebra done within the first 36 hours we were back. Understanding algebra is a whole new world for me over here, I'm really glad I'm doing this now before my older kids hit higher level math.

( Camera Phone Pics from Gumbo Limbo; 9, 8 of which are far too big )

I felt pretty isolated while we were there (when I didn't feel like a boss for all that was getting accomplished), on my own with the five kids without Grant or my sister/friends in town or even internet access most of the time. I mean you talk to strangers in the pool but come on. Still, I've had to deal with hotel withdrawal from the first morning I woke up with everyone wanting to know what was for breakfast and what we were doing that day O_o Seriously, I could use some automatic maid service around here.

I'm currently having my first IUD period and, well...it's pretty horrific. Both in pain and debilitation levels and in blood loss. I mean...this is carnage. I spent all of yesterday dizzy and weak trying to just lay around as much as possible :/ I'm having to deal with things like "Oh I bled through all that onto the van seat...and...the chair at Starbucks...this is awesome...." I changed clothes 3 times yesterday *sigh* I had to sit on a fucking folded towel to ride with my sister to Whole Foods (because we don't have time to hang out, like, ever anymore). I thought I was going to have to take oxycodone to sleep last night - it actually hurt badly enough that I was wondering if I had perforated or something - but my wonderful and open minded husband helped me with alternate pain relief, if you know what I mean. And if you don't you probably don't want to.

Supposedly a lot of women's bodies adjust to the IUD within some variable number of cycles and then this shit lets up a little. That would be nice... I mean I don't have any other complaints here, I had no cramps or spotting between periods and still started on time as I would have normally. But, uh....sheesh. The last time it was this bad was when Dama was down last year and I was just LAYED UP by it, but that only lasted one or two days and we're on day 3 of insanity here now. I'm so thirsty it's impossible to drink enough.

This is my new fb profile pic, taken at Cauley Square by Grant.


Pics from the TLC end of the year pool party that I talked about in the last entry, stolen (with permission) from Cybele's facebook :)


cake Annie and Sophia made.


Annie and Sophia :)


My daughter in the purple shirt.


Outdoor living room.


The other 2/3 of Aaron's "gang", the Ninja Dolphins.


He thinks it's hilarious that someone else who went tagged this pic of him "that crazy guy" on fb.


All pools all the time.

I don't know who these TLC kids think they are even having an end of the year party; they've already had one more "meeting" (Christina's birthday party, at her house) since and are resuming meeting at the library on Friday afternoons for the summer :p

Since we've been back, my broke ass has scored an espresso maker and a stair climber for free (freecyle and a neighbor giving away). I've gotten to a point in my coffee consumption where I can clearly no longer afford to depend on Starbucks alone (plus I can use almond or coconut milk at home), and I've wanted a stair climber ever since Aaron and I went to NY last summer and I realized how woefully hard stairs are for me and how nonexistant those muscle groups are in my body.

Grant is considering a way higher paying job that is almost impractical it's so far away...he'd be driving half an hour to take 2 trains O_O But...it's a $20k a year leap, with a solid company, and the guy is talking about commuting reimbursement and 2k-3k a year raises. Still health care industry, which seems to be the best and most solid for IT down here (digitizing records, having to keep up with new HIPAA laws, and Obama funding). The job Grant has now straight up doesn't pay enough; it's a great work environment and it's a huge blessing that it's close but there's very little opportunity for advancement, no raises, and we're basically just digging ourselves a deeper and deeper hole the longer he stays there. I mean we can barely scrape by with enough side jobs done for other people, but those are inconsistent and it's a stressful situation. We aren't willing to move for the job (we love and own this house, and we love where we live and don't have any desire to live in Ft Lauderdale).

THEN AGAIN, the company Grant works for has acquired land to build this massive huge expansion that's like 3 times the size of the currently existing facility...so maybe he will have room for advancement there if he waits it out. If we can manage to wait it out. We don't even know how long that will be, I mean a year seems conservative and it's not like anybody has even said he can count on it down the line...the dude offering him the far away job is a former supervisor from the job he lost in January, who also left that company they were at together. Grant DOES love listening to audiobooks and NPR and things during a commute (enough that he misses it sometimes, though he says it's outweighed by being home so much more).



Alright, I don't know what today has in store for us...probably Grant and Shaun will build more of Kristin's chicken coop and I'll do more editing and rearranging of my short stories (which will soon be available for e-readers!!!) I think for now I may join Elvis on the bed for a nap. The King has the right idea.